Love Increases Scholarship to $5000 for Gap Year Experience

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Love Increases Scholarship to $5000 for Gap Year Experience

The Rosina Korda Gap Year Scholarship exclusively for American Israel Gap Year Fair Attendees (November 15th at YULA Girls High School) has grown to $5000 for each of three potential awardees thanks to the generosity of Joy and Ron Sentchuk and their remarkable love story. Parents of eight children collectively, all of which have gone on or will go on a gap year program, the Senchuks believe that this additional donation seemed like the perfect way to celebrate their love.

Culminating a seven-year long-distance courtship with their wedding this fall, the Sentchuks requested all their guests make their wedding gifts a donation to the Rosina Korda Gap Year Scholarship. The scholarship was established this year in honor of Ron’s aunt, whose love of Israel changed his life.

According to Ron, “A trip to Israel that Rosina and Bob sent me on literally changed the way I saw Israel and my future. It made me see how I wanted to live my life. It was where I met the mother of my children and charted them on a Jewish-centered life.” Joy, who was raising four boys of her own on the East Coast, met Ron at a niece’s bat mitzvah and moved to Los Angeles to begin their life together.

Their children’s gap years represent the cross-section of experiences that are evident at the Fair. With Ron’s girls choosing a seminary and Joy’s boys choosing co-ed travel, academic, and Zionistic experiences, they are the personification of what AIGYA tries to achieve. “My daughter is attending the Fair to meet the program representatives personally,” said Ron.

This year’s Fair will host 40 Israel programs. In addition to the program presentations, there will also be several important gap year breakout sessions.

  • The Gap Year Experience: Addressing the Concerns of the Sephardic Community, with a panel of Sephardic and Persian educational leaders
  • Safety, Health and Emotional Well-Being During a Gap Year, with Dr. Ernie Katz
  • Alumni Experience, presented by Masa Israel Journey

“All of these additions will make an exciting evening, but the increase in monies for our students to attend the programs is phenomenal,” says AIGYA Executive Director Phyllis Folb. “The premise of this circle of love from the Kordas, Israel, and now the Sentchuks is so touching.”

“To start your life on a mitzvah is the great way to begin a marriage. Rosina’s love of Israel and our own connection to the gap year, it just seemed like a natural fit,” concludes Joy.

Attendance at the Fair is one of the eligibility criteria for scholarship application and advance signup will ensure up-to-the-minute news about presentation times. Students & Families Fair Registration can be found at https://tinyurl.com/IsraelFair2018

Additional questions? Contact: info@aigya.org