College students return from internships in Israel with more than work experience
Students learn and work while being 'part of the Israel story'
Summer internships in Israel granted Pittsburgh college students greater appreciation for living and learning in the Jewish state.
Thanks to Onward Israel, a Birthright-Taglit program, Hallie Jayson, 20, spent two months with Sidelines Group, a Tel Aviv-based sports-tech startup.
“They partner with FanDuel, DraftKings and other big-name sports books, and help guide high-quality traffic to those casinos and sports books through IT, Google ads and Facebook ads,” the University of Pittsburgh student said.
Jayson entered the internship knowing little about sports betting. She chose Sidelines Group, one of more than 70 programs within Onward’s portfolio, because she was intrigued by the company and its culture. During her interview with the Tel Aviv-based company, Jayson was told about a “fun and inclusive” environment where there’s “no sort of hierarchy in the office, somewhere where you can sit down with the CEO and eat lunch with him as if he’s another co-worker, which is not really like what the work culture is in America — at least in corporate America,” she said.
The Pitt student, who hopes to work in the sports industry after college, cherished the experience.
“It was very relevant to what I want to do for a living,” she said. “It helped a lot.”
Squirrel Hill resident Zev Schreiber spent the summer interning with Save A Child’s Heart. The Holon-based nonprofit delivers life-saving cardiac care to children worldwide.
“The kids fly to Israel, who then get care at the Children’s Hospital, stay at the Children’s Home until they’re fully recovered and are sent back home happy and healthy,” Schreiber said.
For two months, Schreiber, a Case Western Reserve student, split his time between the Children’s Hospital and Children’s Home.
On days at the hospital, he hung out with patients between their appointments or spent time in the intensive care unit. Complementing the “incredibly impactful experience,” he said, were periods at the Children’s Home where he planned activities and played with kids.
Schreiber, who hopes to become a child psychologist, said interning with Save A Child’s Heart offered a “bit of a full circle moment.”
Years earlier, during a visit to Israel around the time of his bar mitzvah, Schreiber was introduced to the organization.
“One of the things that I remember from that trip was Save A Child’s Heart,” he said. “It was so impactful for me then, just as it is now.”
Though participants praised the internships, fewer Pittsburghers joined Onward this summer than last, according to Brian Burke, IACT director of Israel and Jewish experiences.
More than 30 students partook in Onward last year. This year there were seven.
Once the war began, recruiting became more challenging, Burke said. Still, for those who went it was a “great opportunity to get internship experience and be part of the Israel story at an important point in history.”
Both Jayson and Schreiber said that even after Oct. 7 they didn’t consider backing out of Onward.
“I just felt like I needed to be in Israel at that time, just to be there and support the Jewish people as a whole and the Jewish community,” Jayson said.
“I think going in and being fed a lot of things from social media and the news, you go in a little nervous,” Schreiber said. “But living there and seeing people living their everyday lives and just going about their business, but also being smart as well, was pretty interesting to me.”
In the U.S., many people follow events in Israel and question “how people can live normal lives there,” Schreiber continued. “The fact of the matter is they have to. There’s nothing else they can do. They can’t cower in fear. They have to go on every single day.”
Jayson said she has been asked numerous times about being in Israel during the war.
“I felt more safe there than I did on a college campus,” she said. “I have a chai necklace. Before the war I didn’t mind wearing it to class, but then I started hearing things that people were saying on social media. Also, when the encampment started — we had one at Pitt during our finals week in the spring — walking past that, it’s scary when you get stares. I still wear my necklace now; I’m still doing that because I feel like I shouldn’t be afraid to, but I have gotten stares when I walked around in the day-and-a-half that I’ve been back here.”
Being in Israel changed Schreiber’s attitude.
Before traveling to the Jewish state this summer, he “shied away from social media and posting about Israel,” he said. “When I was there, I realized that I couldn’t do that anymore. I couldn’t be there at that time and not share my experiences with people, with all the misinformation going around.”
After Schreiber began posting about his time in Israel, he said he expected to receive the “typical bad messages thrown at me.”
Instead, the opposite occurred.
“Someone from my school — actually that I hadn’t talked to in a couple years — hit me up and gave me this really positive message, just kind of backing what I was saying. It kind of took me aback,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that kind of response at all.”
The digital exchange bolstered a summer of learning.
“One of my major takeaways was just being really appreciative of Israel, of the IDF, people my age protecting their country,” he said. “I just found it so important to bring everything back home and talk with my friends, my family, everyone, about what I experienced this summer.”
Given the insights gleaned this summer, Schreiber said it’s imperative to keep speaking, posting and telling others about Israel.
“If we don’t, who’s going to? There’s only one Jewish state,” he said. “We have to spread the word and talk about all the positive things.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments