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Note from our incoming Development Manager
As MEET enters its fourth operational year we are extremely proud of our achievements. The past year we witnessed the graduation of the first cycle of MEET students from our 3 year program and the continuous contact between our alums, since then, and their dedication and commitment, has proven to us that MEET is both successful and sustainable.
This spring we intend to recruit more students from more schools and much energy too will be spent in strengthening the content of our curriculum so to further MEET’s impact amongst more Palestinian and Israeli youth.
To me, MEET is a family consisting of three pillars – students & their families, supporters & investors, and staff & volunteers. Each pillar cannot exist without the other and taking the analogy a step further; to my mind, if one pillar fails the remaining cannot support the platform alone. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those that have supported MEET over the years both locally and internationally - we are very lucky to have such a broad and diverse support platform. Over the next year we mean to expand our wonderful network of and as the incoming Development Manager at MEET, I turn to you, our friends and associates, and request your assistance and aid in achieving this goal – it is crucial for our continued development and success.
David Herz
Development Manager
In Focus: Saher Ahwel, Y1 Student
I am Saher Ahwal, 15 years old. I live in Ramallah – West Bank. I actually have many hobbies, but the most active ones are: Programming (either Java or Visual Basic), swimming, playing Basketball, playing the Piano, and solving Challenge questions. Once I reached an optimum of developing my hobbies, I was introduced to the MEET program. Two MEET directors came to our school (Friends Boys School) and gave us an introduction about MEET. I was really interested to join, so I filled an application, and then I did the test and the interview. I ended up being accepted to MEET. It was a dream of mine to know how to program.
The most things I like about MEET are Programming, and also that MEET has nothing to do with politics. Programming is the best thing in MEET for the first year, and I also think that Business and Management can be another interesting topic in the second year. All MEET staff consists of people who make the success of MEET possible.
Last Summer I worked with a great instructor named Chris. He was my recitation instructor and also my project instructor. My group worked on Mad-Libs project, which ended up a real Mad-Libs working great. Now, in the yearlong program, my team and I are working on a Sudoku game. It is really fun making a game work well and to compete with other IT companies.
In Focus: Leemor Zucker, Y2 Student
Hello, my name is Leemor Zucker I'm from Gilo Jerusalem. I study in the "HaNissuy" high school. I don't have defined hobbies but I like most of the things you could think of, such as books, films, music, science, dancing, sports and so on The story of how I got to MEET is quite amusing and in short - it was a complete coincidence. The thing I like most about MEET is the great people that are part of this organization, and as far as I can see this is also the thing that makes MEET so special and will ensure the continuation of MEET.
In Focus: Yousef Ghandour, Mentor
My name is Yousef and I got to know about MEET through my manager at Ghost: Tareq Maayah, and I was impressed with the kind of work MEET is trying to achieve (actually: what they already achieved). I am the software architect of Ghost. G.ho.st is a free Virtual Computer (VC) that runs in any Internet browser and acts like a regular PC. But unlike your PC, the VC including your data and applications are accessible from any browser in the world and are always backed up, up-to-date and secured.
Now, I’m the mentor for one group, as well as that group’s customer, hence wearing two hats. We are trying to employ a very new technology to build a task tracking application, which could be hosted on G.ho.st later on. The application will allow users to track their daily tasks by grouping them in a task sheet, and provide users with the ability to track tasks time.
My expertise lies in software, enterprise and integration architecture in my professional career. I have acquired broad experience ranging from various development languages, to important aspects of professional software development such as enterprise and integration architecture, Business Process Management, Requirement Definition, process automation. As a software architect, I helped organizations achieve more elegant alignment models between business goals and technical ones by designing enterprise frameworks that are driven by the organization business goals.
The Project Presentations
On February the 14th all of the MEET students from both yearlong programs arrived to the computer laboratory in order to present their team projects in front of the critical eyes of their mentors and MEET staff.
This is a special occasion for all and an opportunity for the teams to
highlight the work they accomplished as well as to interact
with each other and with the MEET staff. So what was the most
impressive? Well sticking to the neutrality rule – they
were all fabulous!
Trip to Nesher
In January one of the second year project teams drove to Nesher to hold a project specification meeting with the Nesher cement company. The team members are developing an internal portal for managerial procedures for Nesher. This project is only one of three real-world projects for real-clients running this year.
MEET Alumni accepted to MIT
The entire MEET family is
buzzing with excitement!! Wissam Jarjoui, from the MEET
class of 2004 was accepted to MIT and in September will
join the MIT class of 2011.
Wissam, a 17 year old Palestinian student from East Jerusalem, joined the first ever class of MEET in 2004 and after three years in the program graduated from MEET this past summer. Inspired by the MIT spirit of MEET and all the impressive MIT instructors he met, Wissam knew there was one school his eyes were set on - MIT. As part of MEET's first alumni group, for which Wissam heads the management team, Wissam joined another 6 MEET students in a MEET sponsored SAT course and soon after sent his application to MIT. Last week Wissam received a letter from MIT welcoming him to the class of 2011. Joining the MIT community is a huge opportunity for Wissam individually and also very meaningful for MEET and who knows maybe for the Middle East. MEET aims to empower our students individually and as a group so that they may return to their own communities to make a difference and provide a brighter future for the Middle East. Our hope is that in the coming years we will be able to bring MEET Israeli and Palestinian students together to MIT. At least in the near future, we at MEET now wait to see Wissam return as an MIT instructor!
MEET Launches 2006/07 Project Phase with ‘Real World’ Clients
MEET second year students recently began work on programming projects for real world clients: for Nesher, the largest cement factory in Israel, a revamp of the company’s procedure management system is under way; for Ghost, Global Hosted Operating System a Palestinian startup offering an online desktop service, our students are developing a compatible task management application.
Moreover, a special pilot is underway - MEET second year students are now for the first time ever providing an IT solution for a non-profit client. For the Palestinian Media & Development Institute (PMDI), our students are developing a Business Portal to eventually serve over 5000 Palestinian business women. Another collaboration with a non-profit client is planned for the 2007 Summer Program and 3 more by this time next year. The success of this pilot will enable strengthening our students’ involvement in promoting local communities and a unique synergy of civil society actors.
Our first year students too are now coding away, developing their first programming projects and learning to work in a team with the assistance of local mentors. This year MEET chose to include a recent dedicated graduate among our Year 1 mentors, Lior Kastel. Successfully integrating our alums in ongoing MEET programs constitutes a step forward toward the long term sustainability MEET is striving to achieve.
We wish him and the entire student core a fruitful 2006/07 Project Phase.
Student recruitment kicks off in Style
Starting February, and for the fourth year running, our Jerusalem based staff has been hard at work towards the recruitment of a new cycle of MEET students. This year's incoming class will be larger than in previous years, with 40 new students to be recruited rather than 30.
In order to meet this new target, the number of schools we will be reaching out to, will also increase to 30 Israeli and Palestinian schools, from the cities of East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beth-Shemesh, Ramallah and Mevasseret.
As in past, years, the MEET staff will be targeting a wide range of 9th grade students, presenting the program to them, gathering applications, administering written examinations and holding personal and group interviews, all with the aim of selecting a worthy new class of students for Summer 2007.
In an attempt to upgrade MEET’s student recruitment process, this year MEET has invested many resources in improving all aspects of its student recruitment. By reviewing its strategy and the level of the tools used to reach out and select the ideal MEET student, we are confident to successfully find a large pool of students that meet the predefined criteria for acceptence including intelligence, leadership, teamwork ability, motivation and so forth.
As the level of excitement towards recruiting the new class grows, the search begins for those with fire in the eyes and the drive to meet the challenge of excellence offered by the MEET Program.
The Alumni Network: Students continue to meet and grow together
Following the graduation of our first three year cycle last summer the MEET alumni was launched with the mission of providing a variety of opportunities and resources through which they can contribute expertise and support to the younger students whilst also building their own self managed team. By doing so the students not only continue meeting and developing their personal relationships but are also building a strong community of instructors and volunteers.
During the past months the alums built the organizational skeleton of their network and created different committees that will work towards achieving their mission and goals. The structure included a management team comprising of a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer and a Secretary, all of which will be elected on a yearly basis.
Some of the committees, by definition, cooperate and integrate with MEET’s annual projects. They include a Recruitment committee, a Tutoring committee and a Curriculum committee. Other committees are dedicated to the development of the actual alumni body such as; the University and Career Consulting committee, Meetings and Activities committee and finally the Alumni Website Development committee.
Being self-managed, the alumni network also serves as a means for MEET’s graduates to implement and enhance their leadership skills and so to prepare them towards facing the real challenges of life.
MIT MEET Student Group – MEET’s academic strength
The MIT MEET student group, made up of MEET's past instructors, is the heart of MEET west of the Atlantic Ocean. We enable the MIT students who join MEET to continue to commit their time and hearts to helping MEET long after their summer in Jerusalem has ended.
We at the student group are first and foremost responsible for ensuring that each summer a team of the most talented and motivated MIT students is sent to lead the MEET program in Jerusalem. As you read these words, we are in the process of interviewing and selecting the 2007 MIT instructor team. After this team is selected, they will receive training on teaching, software development, team management, and the history of the conflict in the Middle East.
In addition, throughout the year the MIT student group puts endless energy into developing and improving the MEET computer science and business curriculum for both the summer and year long programs. After getting to know the program and the students during the summer we have the skills and the vision to consistently improve the program and take it to new levels. Throughout the year we coordinate with the team in the Middle East to ensure that the students have a top level experience as they continue to meet each other every week.
As the MEET family grows, instructors who graduate and leave MIT remain involved in the program through the MIT student group. We have instructors spread across the US and the globe who continue to meet monthly via conference call and contribute to the continued growth of MEET.
I joined MEET this past summer as a Year 2 instructor. Throughout the year as the President of the MIT student group I have been incredibly excited and inspired by the growth I have seen both in our students and in the MEET organization. I look forward to the future and hope that MEET and the MIT student group remain as strong and as dedicated as we are today.
John Varsanik
President MIT MEET Student Group
SUN Microsystems CEO at MEET Lab Launch
Boaz Yehuda - CEO of Sun Israel, and Yossi Harel the Education Director at Sun Israel were guests of honor at the recent launch of the new MEET Lab in Jerusalem. Sun Microsystems recently donated to MEET a state of the art computer lab allowing its students to have a permenant home. During the ceremony, CEO Boaz Yehuda said, "This is the best thing that Sun could have done to bridge the gaps between the peoples of our region." In hanging the Sun plaque, Yossi Harel added "Sun is happy to have been able to help MEET in giving its students a home and helping in furthering MEET's goals" During the launch MEET students presented to their guests working demos of a number of the projects they are currently working on. Sun Microsystems has also generously granted MEET access to its online Java materials.
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