Yael is a fourth-year student of architecture. She and I immediately hit it off with a round of Jewish geography – we grew up in the same neighborhood in New York State, but met for the first time here, at the Technion newspaper staff meeting.
Yael is the youngest of five siblings. As her name might suggest, she has an Israeli parent, but lived most of her life in a small town in Georgia, where country vibes, cowboy boots, and Southern manners are the norm.
Yael describes herself as a “student on the side”. Most of her time is spent on hobbies and interests, and the time left over is put towards her architecture degree, which is on the fast track to a master’s. Her eclectic set of interests ranges from athletics, to music, to activism and more.
Firstly, she is part of the Haifa rugby team, and competes in tournaments every few weeks against the other city teams throughout the country. She plays both harmonica and the guitar, and claims to be capable of playing them simultaneously, but I can’t personally confirm as of yet. On top of all that, she is also the coordinator of the Queer Community at the Technion.
When asked what that entails, she said she organizes bi-weekly social, academic, and activism events for the community. She gave a shout out to Ilona from the Dean of Students offices, in addition to the staff in general, for their generous support of the Technion Queer community.
Yael made aliya in 2017, and participated in a program called Na’aleh that brings foreign Jewish teenagers to Israel for high school. She grew up in a religious family, so she felt that coming to Israel was inevitable. Inevitable or not, we’re glad she made it here – she is a noteworthy addition to the Newspaper team!
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