ORT gets space happy

The first Israeli astronaut will travel into space next year, and one of his assignments will be to test an experiment on the formation of fibers in outer space developed by students at the Yonatan Netanyahu ORT High School in Israel.

Israel Space Agency, established in 1983, has been collaborating with NASA for the past 15 years on space research.

ORT meets Santa - sort of

Under the premise that a milestone event deserves more than a pedestrian commemoration, an ORT flag was planted on the North Pole in honor of ORT's 120th birthday. Ten people, led by the governor of the Kranoyarsk region in Russia and accompanied by Dr. Evgeny Gontmakher, a member of the ORT Russia Committee, embarked on the journey April 10, the date on which ORT was founded in St. Petersburg. They first flew to Russia's northernmost aerodrome and then completed the last leg of the excursion with an 18-hour helicopter flight.

educate or evaporate

With more than a million Jews living in the former Soviet Union, most having been deprived for generations of an identity, there's a great need for Jewish education and renewal of community life. ORT, under the banner of Regeneration 2000, recently completed funding for eight technology centers located in existing Jewish schools in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Tatarstan.

"It's educate or evaporate. If we don't educate the upcoming generation of Russian Jews, we will have lost them forever," says Milton Gralla, lead Regeneration 2000 funder, with his wife Shirley.

The cities were chosen by ORT in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Education on the basis of significant Jewish population and substantial need. The Ministry of Education will provide the Jewish studies curriculum and teachers. The goal is to attract large numbers of previously neglected Jewish youth to Jewish education by combining Jewish studies with the latest in computer and Internet programs.

Yossi Sarid, Israeli Minister of Education, says ORT's emphasis on educational technology positions ORT to help Jews reclaim their Jewish identity.

"ORT's unrivaled knowledge of delivering high-tech education, particularly in the former Soviet Union, will enable us to develop schools that will lead to young people's greater involvement in the Jewish community."

Chairman of the Russian Jewish Congress in Moscow Evgeny Satanovsky praises ORT's funding efforts.

"Regeneration 2000 is the latest chapter in the fruitful partnership between ORT and local municipalities in the former Soviet Union," he says. "These eight new training centers respond to the needs of the communities by helping to build Jewish identity through technology."

Regeneration 2000 will provide technology centers containing networked multimedia computer labs to enrich the entire curriculum including Jewish education, math and history, plus engineering labs to train students in electronics, robotics, electronic control systems and other areas of expertise for the high-tech job market. The computer labs' high-speed access to the Internet, via ORTnet (www.ort.org), will link staff and students to other Jewish communities as well as to ORT's global resources.

Gideon Meyer, Deputy Director General and Director of Operations for World ORT Union, says that by offering the right curriculum, ORT schools will continue to draw an increasing number of Jewish students.

"By installing advanced technologies, we immediately raise the schools' quality of education and prestige, making them more attractive to Jewish students who otherwise would not attend a Jewish school." Meyer played a major role in ORT's return to Russia in 1993 after it was ousted by the Communists in 1938.

The technology center in Samara, Russia, was inaugurated last fall and the remaining seven centers will open next September and in April 2001.

ORT fosters electronic cultural exchange

Through a program initiated by British ORT, fourth- and fifth-grade Jewish school students in England have become "e-pals" with their peers attending ORT Odessa in Ukraine Linda Bayfield, headmistress of the Akiva School, Finchley, praises ORT for helping teachers make their lessons innovative and exciting.

"Watching the faces of our year-five children as they communicated with children in Odessa, astounded as much by what they had in common as by their differences, was very moving."

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail written by Jana Zorenko, a student at ORT Odessa:

"My own family had to hide from being Jewish. My great-grandfather changed his name to stay safe during World War II. For many, many years, my family has not been able to celebrate Jewish holidays - we were not allowed to. And so, when Ukraine started to be independent, my mother didn't know the customs and the traditions. But when I was 8, I came to the ORT school and started to learn about the Jewish holidays, and now I teach my mother. ... We don't have to hide from being Jewish anymore."

Next semester the British students will have an exchange with a school in Bombay.

ORT, JDC expand Kosovar training

There are now five computer labs open in Kosovo, three in the city of Pristina and two in Prizren. A program in computer training is being offered to local teachers. The first three-month course for textile machinists was completed in May and a second for 25 students began this month. Training in welding for local school custodians began in late May.

ORT Israel offers lifetime Internet access to all students

As part of its effort to encourage computer literacy and interactive learning, ORT Israel has decided to offer free Internet access and e-mail accounts to all its students. The free account is active for four years after the students graduate from high school and during their military service. The account is re-opened if the student continues academic studies in one of ORT's institutes or colleges. ORTNET, as the system is called, currently has 11,000 active accounts.

In a recent major policy speech in Florence, Italy, last December, President Clinton urged Internet access as broad and "as complete as telephone access." This, he says, would dramatically reduce income inequality. At a gathering of world leaders who adhere to "third way" politics, Clinton said one of the greatest domestic problems facing developed countries is the "digital divide" that gives those who have computers an enormous advantage over those who don't. Developed nations, he says, should view Internet access as part of an overall strategy to close "the skills gap" to ensure that their citizens remain employable as long as possible.

He also says that developed countries should strive to "get more cell phones and computer hook-ups" into poorer nations.

"The people in Africa are no different from the people in America," Clinton says. "If you give people access to technology, a lot of smart people will figure out how to make a lot of money."

homework help - online

A first-of-its-kind Web site that offers homework assistance was launched recently by ORT Israel. The new site provides online help and tutoring for ORT students. It's also open to students from other educational facilities.

Three times a week, ORT teachers staff the site, prepared to help students in specialized forums in mathematics and English and Hebrew grammar. Hadas Matas, ORT Israel's Internet Editor, says that additional teachers and subjects will be added to the Web site if necessary. The site includes links to information bases in those specific fields. Frequently asked questions will be recorded and presented to future users.

You can check the new Web site (in Hebrew) at www.ort.org.il/homework.

ORT women to the 21st century: a success story

Recent research indicates that the ORT initiative, "Women Towards the 21st Century," has been highly successful in changing the female student attitude toward math. According to the new findings, the program, now in its third year in 18 junior and senior high schools throughout the country, has raised the percentage of girls choosing high-level math classes from 65 to 90 percent.

The program is designed to encourage young women to choose technology and science courses. It identified students with a high potential for science studies, fosters their study skills and provides extracurricular hours in mathematics.

MKs study in ORT's virtual school

"Israel lacks a law that will formally recognize virtual schools, utilizing the Internet for the benefit of the students,"says Yonatan Kaplan, Director of ORT Aviv-Snunit, Israel's only virtual school. He made this comment during a special Internet and information technology day, organized in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Forty-five ORT students presented the Aviv concept to the Knesset members and discussed its potential with members of the House Committee on Education. Several members tried out the virtual school for themselves, discussed students' study habits and explored possible future developments of the medium.

ORT Aviv-Snunit serves 5,000 students from 20 high schools. It offers a wide variety of courses ranging from science and technology to Hebrew literature.

For more information check the virtual school at www.aviv.k12.il.

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