“I love to work with Inbar because she has self-discipline, commitment, and a positive attitude,” says Yaacov, Inbar’s SPACE coordinator. This description is an apt one, for 17-year-old Inbar is a phenomenal student who speaks with a grace and composure far beyond her years. She is in the five-points classes (the highest level) in math, English, and physics, she participates in supplementary excellence activities with her school, and she was one of only five students selected to receive a certificate of excellence from the mayor of Hadera this year.

However, things were not always so easy for Inbar. When Inbar was in 8th grade, according to Yaacov, she was introverted and passive, struggling to take the initiative to ask for what she needed. After having previously been too busy, Inbar joined ENP’s SPACE Program in 10th grade. Although Inbar was a great student before, SPACE empowered her to fulfill her potential and become an excellent one. Before SPACE, Inbar’s grades were in the 80s in the highest math level and in the 60s and 70s in the highest English level, but after she began receiving the scholastic assistance, the 80s in math became a 100, and the 60s and 70s in English became 90s. Yaacov says proudly that it was amazing for him to watch Inbar slowly bloom, becoming a student who is widely considered one of the best in the school. Inbar comments that she appreciates the way that SPACE is tailored to her personal academic needs - if she wants extra help in anything, her SPACE Coordinator will arrange that for her. SPACE also helped Inbar become a better self-advocate, says Yaacov, for now Inbar knows what she wants and she has the resources to achieve it.

Inbar’s best and favorite school subjects are math, engineering, and physics, of which she reflects that “in the past year, I came to understand that math is my love.” Inbar’s natural aptitude lies in the maths and sciences because, as she says, “I love to think outside of the box and solve puzzles.” Yaacov declares proudly that there are not many teachers who could teach Inbar nowadays, because the material she is learning is too complex and advanced even for many of them. Inbar’s dream is to join an intelligence unit in the army, then attend the Technion and work in high-tech, and there is little doubt among those who know Inbar that she will make this dream come true.

Inbar is not the first member of her family to benefit from SPACE, and she will not be the last. Her older siblings participated in the program, and she says that she has already recommended it to her younger brother because of how much it has benefitted her. Inbar’s father, who made Aliyah to Israel during Operation Solomon in 1991 and who she describes as a stickler for grades, also became a big fan of SPACE when he saw the changes it had engendered in his daughter. Inbar is a frequent representative of the SPACE program, and Yaacov jokes that “she explains it better than we do.” If Inbar had not joined SPACE, Yaacov reflects, she would still be an excellent student, but she would be struggling far more to be as exceptional and accomplished as she is.