Israel Experience Students headed to Israel for 2011 Trip!

In less than a week, the 2011 Israel Experience College Scholarship recipients will land in Israel! It is our pleasure to introduce you to just a few of the wonderful young leaders who will be trained and educated through the IE this summer.

Juan José Virella is a sophomore Political Science and English major at North Carolina Central University with plans to pursue a PhD in Judicial Science. He is the youngest presiding Chief Justice of the Student Judicial Court and is a Government Operations and Constituent Services Delegate at UNC Association of Student Governments. Juan is also the youngest president of Every Nation Campus Ministries. Juan has received honors and awards for his high academic standing.

Denise Alexander recently graduated with a BA in Business Accounting at Texas Southern University in Houston. Denise was the official spokesperson for Texas Southern University and a member of the student government association and an active writer for her student newspaper. She is a four year member of the President’s List Academic Honorees.
Fluent in French, Spanish and Kiswahili, with a working knowledge of Arabic and Hindi, Denise aspires to be a human rights activist. During an internship in Tanzania, she worked in the financial communications section of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In September, Denise will begin a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law and International Journalism at the school of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Christian Gonzalez is completing his Master’s in Architecture at Yale University. He works internationally as a writer, director, speaker and social activist, and has advised organizations all over the world on how to innovate ways of communicating. Christian has written, produced and directed four off-Broadway productions, and is the founder of an international ministry called Splinter, a theatre group that has presented to over 70,000 people and trained over 200 students in the last 5 years. Christian has also participated in numerous relief projects in the United States, Germany, China, Thailand, and others.

Alexandra Rutkowski has recently completed her sophomore year at Valley Forge Christian College. She has been involved in leadership in various capacities as part of the Literary Honors Society, Quill and Scroll, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society, and is a full research partner with Waksman Student Scholars for Molecular Biology with Rutgers University. Alexandra and her group were published after discovering a protein. She also started a community service project called ‘The Palette Project’ designing and painting murals for local buildings in New Jersey. She is currently a part of the ‘Leaders Developing Leaders’ at Valley Forge, a group of students that are mentored by college President Don Meyer.

Rebecca Yuschak is completing a BA in Marketing and Management at Rutgers University. She has received many awards such as the Rutgers Business School Dr. Rosa Oppenheim Leadership Award and the Rutgers Business School Undergraduate Dean’s Award. Rebecca served as the president of the Dean’s Advisory Council and also developed the first Peer-Peer Mentor Program at Rutgers Business School.


Call to Action

Over the next several weeks, these amazing students and others like them will be rigorously educated on site in Israel, learning from some of the best minds in education, government, and society, while seeing firsthand the facts on the ground. Please pray for them and consider an additional gift to this vital program. Your support for them is life changing! Click here to donate.


To learn more about the Israel Experience College Scholarship click here.