“If I told you [that you] could spend your freshmen year [of college] traveling the world and learning about the subject you want to learn about and learning two languages, would you not go?”

This is the very question Deena Notowich (12) asked herself when given the chance to spend her freshmen year of college traveling the world under the Kivunim Israel experience. Kivunim is a  gap-year program designed to help students “interpret the past and understand the present in order to build and insure the future.” The program’s Israel experience sends a group of students, starting in Israel, around the world.

“I will be going on a gap/first year abroad program,” Notowich said. “I will [be] based in Jerusalem and Israel, and I will travel around the world to approximately 13 countries while on a full curriculum of different courses. It’s up to 30 credits because I’m in college. I have a syllabus already.”

The program is an interactive experience that allows Notowich and a group of about 80 other students to study Judaism by not only learning Arabic and Hebrew, but also retracing the steps of Judaism’s history in person.  Students learn about “specific places and the history behind them and the people that live there—specifically the Judaic people.”

“I get to meet with tons of people from both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, which I think is really cool,” Notowich said. “I get to formulate my own opinions and get all the information possible.”

The desire to further explore the Judaic history and culture has been building inside of Notowich since she learned about the program seven years ago.

“I heard about it through my brother’s friend. They were co-presidents of our youth group,” Notowich said. “She came and visited, and I spoke with her often. She explained what this program was. I said ‘wow, I want to travel the world for [a] year during college.’ I decided then and I told my parents, and they said ‘you might change your mind you’re 10.’ I said no, and I didn’t.”

Now, seven years later, Notowich is more than ready to embark on her adventure.

“I don’t feel afraid,” Notowich said. “It’s bittersweet to not live in the same city as my parents and all my family, [but] it excites me that I get to travel around the world, do what I love, experience what I want to do and learn in that way too.”

In Notowich’s mind, she has her whole life ahead of her to settle down, so why not do it on her own terms and take every opportunity along the way. In her opinion, life is much more interesting with limitless options and an open mind.