The Beit Shemesh Student Leadership group held its annual Higher Education Fair on May 18, 2000, with colleges and universities around Israel providing information to prospective students from Beit Shemesh and Matte Yehuda on programs available for the coming academic year.
  
The fair was held in the sports hall of the "Sheiber" complex of downtown Beit Shemesh. This year's fair was held in honor of Momi Bitan, z"l, who died from cancer. Momi was a member of the Student Leadership group and he founded the first Higher Education Fair in Beit Shemesh.

Over 200 prospective students came to speak with representatives of the different programs and to hear greetings by the mayor, Danny Vaknin, and performances by young comedians.

The goal of the fair is to encourage local youth to consider higher education, by making information on many different programs available in one place.

This year the fair included a booth by the Volunteer Forum, and information on different volunteer opportunities was passed out. A representative of "Yad Sarah" who operates a lending station out of her apartment was also available to answer questions about volunteer programs through "Yad Sarah".
 
Information was collected on the volunteer interests of the participants with the goal of encouraging more of these activities.

The Student Leadership Group provides stipends to students who commit to organizing volunteer projects in Beit Shemesh and Matte Yehuda. Their activities are presented in a web site - http://www.partner.org.il/leadership/ , and include organizing food drives for needy families, tutoring students, organizing hikes and other events, and creating a web site.

Sivan 5760 - June 2000