Rachel & Itai's Story
Youth in School
City: Ashkelon
“Today, kids don’t really like to study and go to school but for Itai, SPACE has given him the motivation to learn and to succeed.”
Itai is in 8th grade at the Makif Hey school and in his first year as an ENP SPACE participant. He is one of four siblings in a single parent household. Before joining the SPACE program, his mother, Rachel, speaks about how she would receive phone calls every day about Itai’s bad behavior in class and how his grades were slipping. As Rachel says, “Since Itai started in SPACE, I no longer get calls about him and he likes to go to school now. SPACE has given him the motivation to learn and to succeed, even in such a short time. If only I had had SPACE when I was in school – it would have helped me concentrate, because it gives you personal attention.” SPACE makes learning fun for Itai by holding events like study marathons, and gives him confidence in the classroom. Even Itai’s SPACE coordinator sees what a major change Itai experienced. It seems as though Itai needed that extra push that he’s gotten through SPACE.”
Itai’s regular class in school is 30 students and if he gets stuck on something in class, his teacher is not able to spend the time working with him on it. What Itai really enjoys about SPACE is the small group interaction and that he can get the help he needs. He likes SPACE so much that he came to all of the study marathons over the Passover break and even asked for more. His dream is to study at the university and one day be a scientist. In Itai’s own words, “I think SPACE is a great program and I would tell other students to join.”