jews d

in
the

back to school

Lexi Smith at the Taj Mahal

The

Great

Gap

More and more, Metro Detroit
high-school grads are opting to take a
gap year before starting college.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

W

hile a student at North
Farmington High
School, Blair Bean
joined a conversation started by
family friends discussing high-
school graduates taking gap years
before entering college.
Bean soon began mulling over
the idea of allotting time to pursue
interests beyond career academ-
ics. Not only did she relate to the
idea, she also decided to spend a
gap year in Israel.
That destination has been cho-
sen by a number of local gap stu-
dents, from Orthodox to Reform,
and for different reasons.
“I wanted to try new things,”
says Bean, a member of Temple
Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield. “I
wanted to be part of an accepting
community. I wanted to be able
to make mistakes and get some
experience in learning how to be
successful. I wanted to make new
friends and take the idea of being
independent to a whole new level.
I wanted to give of myself and
strengthen my connection to our
Jewish homeland.”

Bean, recently returned and
about to enter Michigan State
University as an English major,
found all that she wanted by com-
pleting a program with Young
Judaea. She also received college
credits through American Jewish
University for studies that were
part of the program.
“I took campus classes in
Jerusalem that covered Hebrew,
Jewish law and Middle Eastern
conflict,” she says of the academic
segment of her experiences. “We
also had classes where the coun-
try of Israel was our classroom,
and we learned about religions of
Israel and the history of Zionism
through art.
“I volunteered in a youth village
and met kids from many coun-
tries. There also was time for spe-
cial interests, and I spent one week
each in viewing art in Jerusalem,
going through desert survival
techniques and sea hiking.”
As she gets ready to go to col-
lege, Bean feels very glad she had
the gap after high school.
“The year opened my eyes to so

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August 24 • 2017

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