While summer vacation is often spent hanging out with friends and taking trips to the beach, a group of selfless students from Scheck Hillel Community School shared their time and talents to “repair the world” –Tikkun Olam in Hebrew.
Nathaniel Melnitsky (Grade 9), along with his father Dr. Leon Melnitsky, traveled 2,600 miles from home on a medical mission to rural Guatemala. In a makeshift clinic, the father-son duo and local medical staff saw 1,625 patients over the course of three and a half days, treating everything from bullet wounds to primary healthcare needs. Given the level of poverty and lack of resources in the area, many patients walked for miles to visit the clinic.
“It was truly life changing to be able to give to this community and provide them a chance to seek the medical attention they may never have access to again,” said Melnitsky. “When I returned home, and reflected on the time I spent in Guatemala, I realized that I have taken so many things for granted. This journey has caused me to change what I value in life as a human being, and has ultimately broadened my empathetic scope.”
Scheck Hillel challenges their students to think globally and do their part to change the world around them. With opportunities such as their international student exchange program and their status as International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, the school provides a framework of college preparatory academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world. Students like Melnitsky have taken their passion for global citizenship beyond their academics and utilized what they learned at Scheck Hillel to apply beyond the classroom. For more information on Scheck Hillel Community School, please visit www.ehillel.org.