Penina's Story: Overcoming Challenges
Youth in School
City: Netanya
Penina (her name has been changed to protect her privacy) was assigned to the Netanya Vocational High School in the 11th grade. She came from a low-income family. The school staff reported to the teacher responsible for conducting ENP’s SPACE Program at the school that Penina was bright and inquisitive, but lacked motivation to study and seemed to have trouble concentrating in class. Furthermore, it was evident to the staff that Penina had trouble staying seated in the classroom for extended periods of time.
Penina was assigned to meet with the SPACE teacher, who placed special emphasis on developing a working one-on-one relationship based on mutual respect and trust. The teacher secured Penina’s agreement to undergo professional evaluation, and after the testing, it was reported that Penina clearly evidenced signs of ADD. The school’s professional staff decided not to treat her with medication right away, preferring to see if special, personalized attention to Penina’s case would result in a lessening of the ADD symptoms.
The SPACE teacher took personal responsibility for working with Penina to overcome the challenges she faced. The teacher found that Penina had a special interest in English, and worked intensively with her to improve her performance in class. Penina began to respond, and showed increasing interest in her classes and homework.
At the end of Penina’s 12th grade, the SPACE teacher who had been working with Penina all along counseled her to help her decide what she would do upon graduation. Penina chose not to enlist in the army, but rather to do National Service. After graduation, Penina contacted the SPACE teacher to report with excitement that she was in fact performing her National Service work as an assistant to the head teacher at a community kindergarten. The SPACE teacher was delighted to hear that Penina was performing well at her position, and was enjoying the responsibilities and challenges of her work!