Creating Meaningful Connections: Student Exchange Program
Each year, the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor provides an opportunity for local 9th graders to spend their spring break on a ten-day visit in Israel. Their home base is Ann Arbor’s partner community Moshav Nahalal, where they are hosted in the homes of Israeli teens and their families. Participants spend the week learning about daily life in this historic and vital community, experiencing Israeli high school classes, touring the Central Galilee region, exploring Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and creating lasting and meaningful relationships with their new Israeli friends.
The following fall, the participants have the opportunity to reciprocate the hospitality when their new Nahalal friends visit Ann Arbor. Interacting with their Israeli friends on home base helping them to learn about our community, spend time together, and experience the different lifestyle of Jewish teens in North America.
Since 2010, the Ann Arbor-Nahalal Student Exchange program has brought over 130 local students to Ann Arbor’s Partnership community in Israel, Moshav Nahalal.
Life in Israel is unpredictable right now. Check back for details about the next Student Exchange trip.
For more information contact us here.
Click Here to watch a YouTube video from a past Student Exchange participant!
Words from our participants:
“I’ve only gone to Israel to visit family, so going to be with Israeli kids that I knew nothing about was a unique experience that I had never done before. We all made such strong bonds in only 10 days, now I don’t just have a family in Israel, but friends too.” – Oreen Morag
“Nahalal was one of the best, most memorable experiences of my life… “The thing that made this trip really special for me was the people. Everyone was so nice and we became family”- Lottie Winegarden
“It was a really eye-opening experience to go to Israel and just have all your preconceptions blown away. Everything there was totally new. The food, the people, the history. Everything.”
– Ethan White