News Bites!

• Students at the ORT school in Tzrifin not only talk about peace, but also cook for it. These students have dedicated their annual cooking project to the culinary affinity between Jews and Arabs, selecting menus with the help of Jewish and Arab chefs from the Chefs for Peace association, a group that promotes co-existence through the art of cooking. The cooperation project is slated to continue and expand during the coming school year.

• In response to the growing number of adults in South Africa without formal schooling, ORT South Africa is conducting in various provinces 11-week Adult Basic Education and Training Courses (ABET), which enable students to qualify for a General Education and Training Certificate (GETC).

As a result of their lack of high school education and GETC qualifications, thousands of South African adults are unable to find work. ORT South Africa has responded to the educational needs of this sector of the population with a variety of courses, including combined science, technology education, and economic and management sciences. The result? ORT South Africa has received positive feedback from employers of its graduates who have remarked that those particular employees are more productive, show higher levels of initiative and have higher problem-solving skills than their colleagues.

• A group of young entrepreneurs from the ORT Megadim School in Karmiel recently developed a detector for finding lost key chains. Group members presented the device to companies in a regional competition—and a group of investors from Tel Aviv expressed interest in the product and opened negotiations over the sale of the rights.

• An Israeli postage stamp will be produced from the creative work of a student at ORT Kramim in Karmiel. The drawing “Indifference Hurts” by Irina Rogozinsky was winner of a national art contest.

• A new project called “Near and Far,” designed to cultivate ties between Israel and the Diaspora, was recently established by the ORT Melton lower secondary school in Bat Yam and a Jewish school in Long Island. Students at both schools have become acquainted via e-mail. On June 1, a solidarity march with the State of Israel was held in New York, during which the ORT flag was raised along with a flag prepared by the Melton lower secondary school, on which palm prints were stamped as a symbol of peace.

• ORT’s Technology College in Moscow marked 10 years since the establishment of its design diploma, an experimental program begun in the 1990s, at the graduation ceremony of its design faculty. The ceremony took place at Slava Zaitsev’s Fashion House, a renowned Russian designer. As part of the ceremony, a fashion show took place illustrating the collections of 19 graduates, demonstrating distinctive and bold designs heralding a new generation of Russian designers.


• The students at the ORT de Gunzburg School in St Petersburg impressed guests with an extensive exhibition of the projects they have been working on this year. First- through 11th-grade classes at the school participated in Annual Project Day, organized to give students an opportunity to take what they have learned during the school year and bring it to life.

Students created an exciting competition by offering a variety of different themes, which included a robot competition, environmental studies projects, Jewish theater scriptwriting, biology and a historical perspective of the school.