Shalem’s Second Class Proof that “We’ve Arrived”
“How will we match last year’s class?” That was the question on Shalem leadership’s mind as it entered its second admissions season this past January. The inaugural class would be a hard act to follow by any standard, with students of not only exceptional academic, extracurricular, and public-service track records, but also a rare virtue: the desire to be part of a pioneering experiment in higher education, in its very first year off the ground. “Fortunately,” said Shalem Provost Daniel Polisar, “the second year’s applicants proved to be of truly remarkable character, showing that as an institution, we’ve arrived in Israeli society.”
The class of 2018 is an ideologically, socioeconomically, and geographically diverse group, whose wide array of talents and experiences—from building a grassroots economic forum to traveling the Middle East as a member of Israel’s undercover security agency—will enrich the intellectual life of the college both in and out of the classroom. Yet the commonalities between these 48 students are no less important for maintaining Shalem’s vision of a college whose graduates will, from within any profession, strive to serve their people and nation. Ninety-eight percent of incoming students served in the IDF or completed national service, with more than a third of the former serving either in elite combat units or as officers. Moreover, a full 65 percent of the incoming class participated in a voluntary, pre-army educational framework, whether at a mechina (leadership preparatory academy) or hesder yeshiva. And finally, in an impressive show of their commitment to ongoing learning about their Jewish heritage and Israeli identity, a number of students participated in post-army educational programs, often combining social entrepreneurship with the study of Jewish and Zionist texts.
Perhaps most tellingly, pointed out Polisar, more than 20 percent of accepted students had already begun a course of study at another leading institution in Israel, or had been on track for a prestigious job—in one case, at the Prime Minister’s office. “That they chose to come to Shalem instead speaks both to the reputation for excellence we’ve built over the course of just one year, as well as to the very real desire for this sort of education among Israel’s most promising young people.”
