Tziona is a creative 18-year-old student in Ashkelon. She loves reading, for delving into a book allows her to immerse herself in new, unfamiliar perspectives and experiences. Tziona also feels a strong urge to protect others, and she wants to act on this sense of protectiveness by becoming a lawyer. Despite her strong connection with literature, Tziona struggled to motivate herself to succeed in English, so Worke, her SPACE Coordinator, sat her down and reminded her that strong English skills would be a necessity for her dream of studying law. The staff of ENP’s SPACE Program worked with Tziona’s school to get her a one-on-one English tutor for both school and SPACE, and having this tutor made all the difference for Tziona, as her English grades soon began to improve. Tziona also had difficulty connecting with math, viewing it as merely numbers on a page which couldn’t satisfy her creative spirit. As a result of this disconnect, Tziona had always seen herself as incapable of succeeding in math. 

Being a part of SPACE gave Tziona the gift of self-belief, for when she saw the increase in her grades and realized that she could both improve her English and be adept at math, she gained essential faith in herself. Tziona says that the changes that she has witnessed in herself are “90% due to my teacher and 10% due to me,” for her SPACE teacher Harold provides her with unconditional help and encouragement, always reminding her that she can be successful. Today, Tziona has completed all but one of her matriculation exams and she plans to do national service in a courthouse and travel to Thailand and Ethiopia. SPACE has helped to make these dreams possible.