Israel's future: Student's Entering The Atidim Program
Youth in School
City: Beit Shemesh
During the final quarter of Academic Year 2012-13, three extraordinary 10th-grade students, Asi, Shimon, and David, began participating in special study groups aimed at preparing them for their History matriculation exams. Their active participation, self-discipline and motivation in the study groups – despite the short time that the classes were conducted – enabled them to get the highest grades in the class on their mid-term exams. This is a significant accomplishment, and underscores the ability of ENP’s SPACE program to create dramatic improvement in the academic performance of student with a wide range of abilities.
These three boys are participants in a special Israeli Air Force pre-enlistment program at the Branco Weiss School. The program is a prestigious and respected one, which enables participants to continue onward to the more intensive Atidim (‘Futures’) pre-enlistment program for gifted students that prepares them for eventual enlistment in special units in the Air Force. The students in the program at Branco Weiss arrive at school in uniform, and in addition to the promising future that they display everywhere they go, they have the added responsibility of serving as role models for other children. Their acceptance to this elite program was due in part to the efforts of the ENP SPACE Program team, who invested concerted effort in persuading parents of gifted children to admit them to the Air Force program.