AZYF Says Summer Science Programs in Israel for Teenagers Expanded

A series of summer science seminars, originally offered only at the Weizmann Institute in Israel for science-minded American high school seniors, have been extended to be available this summer also at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Israel Institute of Technology-Technion in Haifa, it was announced here by William Levine, executive director of the American Zionist Youth Foundation. The science programs will offer experimentation and study in various scientific disciplines combined with a general overall introduction to the land and people in Israel, according to Mr. Levine. An important component of the program, he noted, will be the close contact American youngsters will maintain with Israeli students of the same ago.

Deputy Director of the Jewish Agency Youth and Hechalutz Department, Yehuda Goodman, who supervises the Israeli programs and recently arrived in New York, announced plans for a new project co-sponsored by the Agency and the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture to promote closer relationships with Israeli peer groups during the course of the American student visits to Israel. According to Mr. Goodman, the Ministry and the Youth Department will offer both Americans and Israelis an integrated course to spend most of the summer together as a unit. American students will be offered a “mini-ulpan” in the Hebrew language, while Israelis will brush up on their English in a similar English “mini-ulpan” The course will take place at an Israeli youth village, and the study will be followed by joint touring, so that both groups will establish meaningful relationships, Mr. Goodman stated.

More than 7,000 college and high school students, 4,000 coming from the United States and Canada, are expected to participate this summer in various Israeli summer programs, Mr. Goodman said. These summer programs according to the Deputy Director, cover such diverse areas as kibbutz work, university study, archaeology, theater workshops and folk-dance. The programs were initiated in 1948 by the American Zionist Youth Foundation.