TriWizard Program Brings Arab and Jewish Teens Together

This article is published here with the permission of The Evergreen, the student newspapaer of Greenhill School in Dallas. It was originally published in spring 2012.

By Samantha Carp and Greer Goss

The word TriWizard may summon memories of Harry Potter to most, but to a group of Greenhill freshmen and sophomores, TriWizard is an organization that will allow them to explore different cultures and religions. This year, Greenhill students will begin the TriWizard program, an exchange with students in Akko, Israel. The program is a collaboration between Greenhill and two Israeli schools, one Arab, and one Jewish.

Last year, the Arab and Jewish students involved in the TriWizard in program met regularly throughout the year in Akko. Akko, one of the oldest cities in Israel, is on the northern end of Haifa Bay.  25% of the population is not Jewish, this is one of the highest non-Jewish percentage in all of Israel, according to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Acco.html. The students, who are roughly ages 13 through 15, interacted through team building exercises and community service projects. The group created an art service project that is currently on display at a hospital in Akko.

“The program was really setting the foundation for cultural understanding between these two different [Arab and Jewish] communities that are very close geographically but very far apart in real life,” said Upper School history teacher Scott Cotton, who is organizing the Greenhill portion of the exchange.

According to Mr. Cotton, who visited these students in Israel this summer, the students learned about the one another’s cultures, language, and family.

“Even though these groups only live 15 minutes part, they really live in very different community," Mr. Cotton said. “It was a big deal for a group of Arab kids to come to a predominant Jewish school or vice-versa.”

Chana Zweiter, founder of the Kaleidoscope approach, Tri-Wizard’s educational program, explains how the program will benefit the students.

“Our goal is to help develop the social and emotional skills that in turn promote understanding of multiculturalism and respect for others,” she said.

In her previous experiences, the Kaleidoscope program has positively impacted the students.

“Evaluations of other Kaleidoscope programming have proven its efficiency in changing attitudes, in reducing stereotypes and in promoting readiness to interact with people of other cultures,” she said.

According to Eliad Eliyahu, Education Coordinator for Partnership2Gether of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the effects of the program are prevalent in Israel.

“I believe that in Israel we can already see the impact of the meetings the Arab-Jews students had last year,” he said. “They are open to each other and learn how to respect the different culture.”

This year Greenhill will be the third and final participant in the TriWizard program. Starting in January a selected group of freshman and sophomores will partner with these Jewish and Arab Israeli students for a variety of projects via Skype.

Approximately 40 Greenhill students applied. 17 students were selected based upon the content of their application essay, academic success in history, and suggestions from the previous year’s history teacher.

Mr. Cotton said he hopes to establish a core group of Greenhill students who have knowledge of important global issues.

“[One goal is to] develop a cultural understanding and knowledge about where these [Israeli] kids are coming from,” Mr. Cotton said. “How does culture, language, religion affect how people see the world?”

Starting in October {2012}, the 17 Greenhill students will begin meeting and learning about each other. They will participate in many bonding projects, similar to the activities completed by the Arab and Jewish kids last year. Mr. Cotton emphases the importance of the Greenhill kids getting to know each other.

“Greenhill kids are very diverse, we are not all coming from the same place culturally or religiously. We are going to spend some time getting to know about ourselves.”

In January the students will start the exchange with the two Israeli schools.  The students will interact through online video chatting, and individually partner with one or two Israeli students. The international partners will then work on individual activities and service projects.

Freshman Emily Fine, one of the Greenhill students in the program, said she is looking forward to Skyping with the Israeli students.

“Learning in depth about how the students of Arab and Jewish Israeli communities get along today is something I am interested in,” she said. “I would also like to learn the similarities and differences of living in different areas because it is interesting to me to know what other adolescents have in common with me even though we live so far apart.”

Mr. Eliyahu said he takes pride in being a part of a program like Akko, but thinks this year could be difficult.

“This is one of the biggest challenges of the year… because of the entrance of the American side,” he said. “I am very curious [to see] how the American students will accept the variety [of] opinions in Israel.”

According to Mr. Eliyahu, the project has the ability to change how Israel is portrayed in America.

“This kind of project will show to students in Dallas… a different and new perspective of the Israeli situation in the Middle East,” he said.

Greenhill students may have the opportunity to visit their new friends in Akko this summer. Mr. Cotton hopes to take the students involved in the correspondence program to Israel in June to tour, learn, and live the Israeli life. This is not the only service trip Greenhill offers in the summer. Next year Greenhill is offering a summer trip to India and a spring break trip to Costa Rica.

“Students who go on these trips really deepen their knowledge of another culture in ways that you cannot do in a textbook,” he said.