Arab Youth Initiative (Internship Program)
In Israel, the Arab population constitutes 20% of the general population, but only 1-2% of the high-tech personnel. Many of the brightest Arab high school graduating students choose career fields within medicine and law, where they believe they may have greater control over their career progression, rather than within technical disciplines where they may be particularly gifted. In order to bring these exceptional Arab students into high-tech, TowerJazz began a program offering internships to students in the graduating class of top Arab high schools in Nazareth.
The schools select their top ten students of which, after testing and interviews, we select four who receive a paid internship and scholarship during all years of their undergraduate studies at the Technion, the #1 Israeli engineering university. Each intern is assigned a hand selected, top performing TowerJazz engineer as their work mentor and are cared for at all levels in the company, including frequent 1:1s with the CEO. The assigned area and mentor are changed yearly. This program is now in its third year and the results have been outstanding.
Four interns were selected to participate at the outset of program in 2009. The following year they interned at TowerJazz under their assigned mentor. One intern chose to pursue another avenue while the other three excelled and gained respect from coworkers by exhibiting a desire to learn and work-ethic that led to productive contributions. As the interns prepared to begin studies at the Technion, one intern trained an individual with a graduate degree hired to continue with her work.
TowerJazz intern Christina Nseir commented on the opportunity, "The internship has helped us in many ways. The knowledge and insights that I have gained could not have been had by solely studying electrical engineering as an undergraduate. Upon graduation, I will have direct experience and top references that should make me a valuable candidate for any high-tech job. Equally important, we have all made strong friends within, and gained an understanding of, a Jewish community that we otherwise would have had little contact with."
The 2009 TowerJazz interns at a recognition ceremony with parents, high school administrators, and mentors.
Currently the 2009 interns are studying at the Technion and interning with TowerJazz during their summers. They will graduate in the class of 2014.
TowerJazz has chosen to continue the Arab Youth Internship Program and select new interns every other year. In February of 2011, the program was presented to incoming applicants. A tour of the Migdal Haemek facility followed for interested students and parents. Selected interns will begin at TowerJazz Fall of 2011.
