1,200 Students Graduate from ORT USA Schools

Bramson ORT College in New York City held its 22nd annual commencement exercises on June 28, 2001 at the Forest Hills Jewish Center. There were 217 students in this year's graduating class, many of whom are immigrants from the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe starting their professional lives over again, studying English and struggling to learn the ways of American life. 177 received associate's degrees and 38 received certificates in such varied disciplines as computer programming, accounting, business management, secretarial skills and bookkeeping. The ceremony featured a keynote address by Mark Handelman, former Vice President of NYANA (New York Association of New Americans).

In addition to its main campus in Forest Hills, Queens, Bramson ORT also has a Brooklyn campus in Bensonhurst.

At the Los Angeles ORT Technical Institute (LAOTI), which has campuses in downtown Los Angeles and suburban Sherman Oaks, 261 technical students and 268 English as a Second Language (ESL) students graduated on June 21, 2001 in a ceremony held at Temple Beth Am. State Senator Richard Alarcon (D) was the keynote speaker and graduates were also addressed by three of the class's high achievers, Manijeh Yaghoubi, Mila Sologub and Eugene Sena. Certificates were given in ESL, computerized accounting, graphic design, computer aided drafting and design (CADD), computer programming and networking technology.

Due to an expanded recruitment program and the addition of a computer programming certificate program, as of June 1, 2001 student enrollment at LAOTI was 716, compared with 594 a year ago. LAOTI's technical curriculum has been upgraded significantly with an Internet component added and the QuickBooks program has been included in the computerized accounting curriculum. The CADD program now includes training in architectural and mechanical desktop utilities, a Visual Basic Internet Programming course was added to the program in Java and Visual Basic computer languages and medical assistant trainees will now receive instruction in EKG and other lab equipment. Adobe Photoshop, HTML and web design are new components of the computer graphics and desktop publishing program.

At the commencement exercises of the Zarem/Golde ORT Technical Institute in Chicago held on June 24, 2001, a record 516 certificates were awarded in English as a Second Language (ESL), computerized accounting, CADD, computer programming, microcomputers and networking. The featured student speaker was Jacob Plamparampil, originally from India, who was one of the first students to complete the school's new computer programming certificate.

American ORT and Women's American ORT raise funds to support technical and technological training for more than 300,000 students in 60 countries around the world. ORT is the Jewish world's leader in technology education and the world's largest non-governmental education and training organization.

More than 15,000 students are currently being served by ORT in the US. ORT's three US schools are Bramson ORT College in New York, Zarem/Golde ORT Technical Institute in Chicago; and Los Angeles ORT Technical Institute (LAOTI). ORT Computer Technology Centers in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Miami are connecting Jewish day school students to Jewish education with a computer link, and the ORT Resource Center in New York is helping to bring Jewish education into the computer age.

The largest ORT network of schools is in Israel, where 100,000 students attend 140 junior and senior high schools, colleges, and training programs. One in four members of Israel's workforce was educated in an ORT institution.

ORT has established schools and resource centers throughout the former Soviet Union. ORT schools of long standing are also found in France, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, South Africa, India and elsewhere.

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