On last Sunday, Net@ students in Eshkol, were awarded a praise citation from Net@'s Management for the voluntary work performed by them at the Regional Council. Mrs. Chava Mila, Head of the Steering Committee of Eshkol Regional Council tells Net@ students about her voluntary work in Eshkol.

Net@ was established in 2003 as a strategic initiative of the Jewish Agency and Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal, the "Tapuach (Apple)" Association for the Promotion of Technological Knowledge - an Israeli non-profit organization, and Cisco Systems Inc. The main goal of the program is to change the lives of young people from the geographical and social periphery of Israel, by allowing for them the opportunity to become hi-tech professionals, by providing them with an equal competing start-point in this prestigious field, thus changing their future. This vision is achieved by training these teens in the fields of computers, communications, building and maintenance of internet sites and networks.

In addition, through this program the youth is exposed to values such as: professional excellence, personal and social responsibility, leadership, pluralism, multiculturalism, democracy and contribution to the community. The teachers and social instructors who tutor the students are professionals and educators in the hi-tech and technological field, who undergo training courses especially designed for this purpose.
 
Net@'s studying program spreads along three years and includes social and technological programs imparted one after the other. The Net@ program for social empowerment is an integral part of the technological program. The social contents are combined with the technological ones.

During the program, the students at Net@ are committed to contribute voluntarily in their communities, and they themselves choose their field of contribution.
The Net@ program develops itself in accordance to the needs arisen by students and instructors. That is the reason why more than 1000 young people in 13 communities throughout Israel participate nowadays of this project.

People running the Net@ project in Eshkol Regional Council:

• Inbal Bargil Kaccun - Director of the Sderot and Gaza periphery team
• Moran Biton - Social Instructor
• Arnon Shachar - Technological Instructor