Summer 2019 Begins - 05/30/2019
Our very first program of the summer has begun, with the arrival of the first cohort of the Camp Counselor program. This small group is the harbinger of the main section of this program who will arrive a week later. Representing eleven different camps, these forty eight participants (the largest cohort ever), will return directly to their camps after their internship in Israel. Launched with the support of the Avi Chai Foundation, this program has two main objectives: allowing camp counselors to continue their work at camp while meeting their desire for professional growth through the internship in Israel; and enriching the camp environment with inspired returnees from a transformative experience in Israel. Now in its fifth summer, this program remains one of the most unique offerings within the Onward Israel network. Soon after, we are pleased to welcome our participants form Montreal and Toronto- programs occurring earlier in the year to match the Canadian academic calendar, and then the first offerings of our partnership with Olami and JInternship as well as the Finance and Science and Health theme based programs. All in all, by the end of May, more than 400 participants, nearly 16% of our total expected summer cohort, will have arrived in Israel. This marks the largest “early” group of participants in Onward Israel’s history. Beyond these “pioneers”, our registration efforts for the summer continue in earnest. As of this writing, there are already just about 2200 paid participants for the summer, with another 200-300 expected. Our overall target for 2019 is now 2800-2900, not too far from our original objective of 3000 participants, a growth of 12-16% over last year.