遵從內心，探尋自我：啟明星孩子的以色列間隔年

12月下旬，我們收到一封從以色列的海法輾轉而來的郵件。

那是啟明星2023屆高中畢業生Joshua Sobhani 和 Dante Jabbari 對自己間隔年的講述。

Joshua和Dante是啟明星的第一屆高中畢業生，分別被倫敦大學學院政治學和國際關系專業和多倫多大學生命科學專業錄取。

Dante（左）和Joshua在畢業典禮當天致辭

埋下時間膠囊

寫下封在時間膠囊里、要對未來的自己說的話

拿到大學錄取通知書后，Joshua和Dante沒有馬上繼續大學學習，而是前往以色列做年間隔服務。

他們為什么會有這樣的想法？

以色列局勢緊張，他們安全嗎？

世界這所“大學”帶給Joshua和Dante什么樣的新知和思考？

回顧之前的在校學習，哪些是“寶貴的營養”？

關于這兩個在啟明星長大的孩子，我們有太多想知道的；

面對母校，他們也有很多信息樂于分享……

01

遵從內心

海法是以色列北部的現代化海港，作為以色列的第三大城市，西瀕地中海，背倚迦密山。Joshua和Dante在這里的間隔年比較特別，不是安逸的周游體驗，也不是激情澎湃地加入一項事業，而是——潛心服務。

Joshua（左四）、Dante（左五）和其他服務伙伴在海法

這樣的決定源于自己的信仰，也因為啟明星核心價值觀“服務”對他們的影響。

他們在Bahai World Center的安全部門服務。Dante的職責包括協調安全員們的工作，追蹤和記錄有關園區安全的信息。

‘‘終身服務是我的信念之一，然而要全身心投入并不容易，學業、工作、家庭都會帶來影響，我想這樣利用間隔年是最好的選擇了。’’Dante說。

Joshua的工作需要他在園區里巡視，也更加直接服務于前來參觀的人群。“間隔年是高中畢業到大學之間的自然過渡。現在我沒有經濟壓力或是學業、職業的負擔，所以能真正專注在服務上。其實做出這個決定，更多的不是出于時機的考慮，而是這個決定自身。” Joshua說，“‘服務’是我最重要的核心價值觀之一，即便不是在這里服務，我也會用高中畢業后的一整年時間在其他地方全心服務。”

事關安全，Joshua和Dante的工作并不輕松。他們每隔3天連續工作12天，每天工作10小時。Dante還告訴我們，作為協調員，他要隨時on-call（待命），保證需要幫助的同事能及時找自己。

02

海法的日子

Dante和Joshua有著典型的啟明星印記——在海法的日子里，他們謹記服務的初心，卻也生活得放松從容，內心安寧。即便以色列的局勢并不太平，也沒有動搖他們留在當地的決心。

“過去幾個月，這里的沖突和不確定性是劇烈的。但海法在以色列北部，我們沒有受到來自加沙地帶的火箭彈的太大影響，火箭彈被反導系統攔截，空襲警報只在這里觸發過一次。我們服務的地方采取了廣泛而徹底的措施來保障所有工作人員的安全，我感到既安全又幸運。”Joshua說。

Joshua在海法

摒棄周遭的噪雜和紛爭，Joshua和Dante更加關注自身的提升和真實的體驗。

Dante很感念在海法的生活為自己帶來的成長。他積累著點滴的生活體驗，從學習烹飪到和來自世界各地的朋友共同成長。“我會和朋友們研究、討論文學，進行深刻又富有意義的對話……另外，我也正在學習怎樣舒適地獨自生活。”

Dante在海法

Joshua呢，服務機構的文化多樣性讓他震驚。“這里有來自80多個國家的600位工作人員，我幾乎沒在同一場合遇到過2個來自同一國家的人。這樣的多樣性營造了一種博愛和欣賞不同文化和背景的氛圍。”

03

前行

今年秋天，Joshua和Dante結束間隔年之后，將分別回到英國和加拿大的大學校園，開啟下一段重要的人生旅程。

他們為當下的體驗感到充實，憧憬未來的生活，也懷念在啟明星的歲月。

“啟明星教會我要永遠渴求新知。在啟明星的成長激發了我探究的興趣，相信這樣的特質會伴隨我終生。我關心世界實事，閱讀和未來學習領域相關的書籍，和那些在我的研究領域擁有豐富經驗的人會面、交談，這些都表明，啟明星教會我‘探求知識’特質的證明。”Joshua說。

“其實，Joshua在學術上取得的成績也是他擁有‘渴求知識’特質的證明。就拿中文來說，中文是他的第二語言，他在IBDP最后的中文考試中拿到了7分，口語考試也是幾乎滿分。”彭扶搖說。

彭扶搖是Joshua的IB中文老師。在她的印象里，Joshua的社交能力很強，算得上是“社牛”，屬于社交型的學習者，這對他的語言學習特別重要。

“他的思維活躍，想象力和聯想力都很強，對新鮮事物有強烈的好奇心。”彭老師說，“在課堂上，他的一些提問甚至會引發全班新一輪的討論！”

Joshua和Dante在啟明星時的照片

教過Dante兩年科學的王桂華提起Dante也是連連稱贊。

在王老師的記憶里，Dante沉穩、踏實，有條不紊，常常提出有深度的學術問題，也能解答出國際級別奧賽的題目。“這是非常難得的。他不僅能答出問題，還能答得很好。”王桂華說，“Dante也是個特別重感情的孩子。畢業后他特別找到我，要了我的電郵。你能感受到他對老師的尊重，對學校的認可和留戀。”

你會對3年前的自己說什么？

…….我會告訴自己要更好地做計劃，因為這會對我管理 DP 的學習有很大幫助。或許，我還會告訴自己要享受生活，珍惜每一刻，我覺得我并沒有真正好好珍惜當時與朋友和家人在一起的美好時光。

—Dante

我會告訴 10 年級的自己，在追尋自己的激情和興趣時要更大膽一些。我發現，在生活中，我們那些進行的最久最深入、最成功的事業和項目，往往是我們真正關心和真正感興趣的。我也會告訴 10 年級的自己要真正聽取父母的建議，并且時常感謝他們。因為現在當我們回顧父母為我們所做的一切和為我們所付出的犧牲時，我們真心覺得想要感激他們！

—Joshua

從容不破，品格優秀，對自我有清晰的認知，又能堅持明確的方向——Dante和Joshua有著啟明星教育最想賦予學生的一系列特質。

我們祝愿他們在間隔年和之后的歲月一切順利，不斷經歷更新更有意義的人生；經過這次訪談我們也深深感到，年輕的生命需要被尊重，被看重，因為他們常常比我們想象的要深邃、豐富……

In late December, we received a letter that had traveled all the way from Haifa, Israel.

It was an account of the gap year spent by Joshua Sabhani and Dante Jabbari.

Joshua and Dante were among Daystar’s first high school graduates in 2023. Joshua was admitted to study Politics and International Relations at University College London and Dante received an offer to study Life Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Dante and Joshua giving speech on the day of graduation ceremony

Burying time capsule

Writing message to be kept in the time capsule

But after receiving their college acceptance letters, Joshua and Dante did not immediately travel to London and Toronto to continue their university studies. Instead, they chose to spend a gap year doing service in Israel.

Why did they choose to take a gap year?

How is the currently tense situation in Israel affecting them?

What new knowledge and perspectives has this special experience given them?

Looking back over their previous academic studies, what values and skills have helped them during their gap year?

There's so much we want to know about these two students who grew up at Daystar.

Fortunately, Joshua and Dante share their remarkable experiences with their alma mater below…

01

Follow My Heart

Haifa is a modern seaport city in northern Israel. It is the third largest metropolitan area in Israel, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Mount Carmel to the south. Joshua and Dante's gap year here was quite special. It has not been a leisurely travel experience nor an exciting business opportunity; instead, they came to Israel to serve others.

Joshua( 4th from the left), Dante( 5th from the left) and other people doing servie in Haifa

Joshua and Dante’s decision to take a gap year in Haifa thus originated from one of Daystar's core values: service.

Joshua and Dante are serving in the department of Security at the Bahai World Center. Dante's responsibilities include coordinating the operations of the guards outside and keeping track of information relating to the security of the Gardens.

“Lifelong service is one of my values, but it is often very hard to dedicate one’s full attention to service later in life, especially when there are so many other responsibilities such as school, work, family, and more,” Dante said. “I think taking a gap year like this is the best choice.”

Joshua's job requires him to patrol the Gardens and control access to staff, pilgrims, and public visitors at various entry points. “A gap year is a natural transition between high school and university,” Joshua explained. “I don’t have many financial obligations right now and have not gotten caught up with university life and career paths yet, so I am now able to fully focus on serving others.Service is one of my core values, and whether here at the Bahai World Centre or somewhere else, I was always planning to devote an entire year to service after graduation,” he said.

When it comes to safety, Joshua and Dante's work is far from easy. Their schedule calls for them to work 10 hours a day 12 days in a row, followed by just three days of rest. Dante also told us that, as a dispatcher, he must be on-call at all times to ensure that his colleagues who need assistance can reach him at any time.

02

Life in Haifa

Dante and Joshua display the typical traits of outstanding Daystar students.During their days in Haifa, they have kept in mind their commitment to service while maintaining a relaxed and tranquil frame of mind.Even though the situation in Israel has not been peaceful, this has not shaken their determination to stay in the area.

“The conflict and uncertainty that has reigned here in the past 2 months has been tumultuous to say the least,” Joshua said. “The Bahai World Centre is located in Haifa, which is far enough north to mean that we have not been affected much by rockets fired from the Gaza strip. Rockets fired have been intercepted by extensive anti-missile systems, and air raid sirens have only been triggered here once. There are wide-ranging measures in place for the protection and safety of all staff at the Bahai World Centre and I feel both safe and blessed to be here now.”

Joshua in Haifa

Regardless of the nearby fighting, Joshua and Dante are still focused on their personal growth and service experience.

Dante is very grateful for the personal growth that life in Haifa has brought him. He is accumulating life experiences such as learning to cook and maturing together with friends from around the world. “I often read and discuss literature with my friends, and we engage in profound and meaningful conversations on many topics. In addition, I am also learning how to live independently.”

Dante in Haifa

For Joshua, the cultural diversity of the service organization has impressed him. “There are around 80 nationalities represented among the 600 staff and I am rarely at a social gathering where two people from the same country are present. This diversity gives rise to a beautiful atmosphere of love and appreciation for different cultures and backgrounds.”

03

Keep Moving Forward

This autumn, Joshua and Dante will begin their university studies at campuses in the UK and Canada respectively embarking on the next stage of their lives.

They feel fulfilled by their current experiences, and look forward to their futures. Yet they still miss the time they spent at Daystar.

“Daystar taught me to always maintain a thirst for knowledge,” Joshua said. “I’m sure that the inquisitive nature that my years at Daystar instilled in me will stay with me forever. Keeping abreast with world events, reading books related to my future area of study, and discussing with others serving here who have extensive experience and knowledge in my field of study are all a testament to the ‘knowledge seeking’ qualities that Daystar has taught me.”

“In fact, Joshua's academic achievements are also a demonstration of his thirst for knowledge,” Ms. Scarlett Peng said. “Take Chinese for example. Chinese is Joshua’s second language, but he scored seven points in the final Chinese test of the IBDP and gained almost perfect marks in the oral test.”

Ms. Scarlett Peng is Joshua's IB Chinese teacher. In her view, Joshua has strong interpersonal skills and he is a highly sociable learner, which is particularly helpful for language acquisition.

“His way of thinking is also quite dynamic. He has a strong imagination and powerful association skills, as well as a remarkable curiosity for new things,” Ms. Scarlett Peng added. “In the classroom, sometimes his questions would even trigger new rounds of discussion among the whole class!”

Joshua and Dante in Daystar classrooms

Dr. Jessica Wang, who taught Dante science for two years, was also full of praise when she mentioned her former student.

According to Dr. Wang, Dante was calm, down-to-earth, and methodical. He often asked complex academic questions and could answer questions about international Olympiads. “It's very rare. Not only can he answer questions, but he can answer them well,” Ms. Wang said. “Dante is friendly by nature. After graduating, he came to me and asked for my email address so that we could stay in touch. You can feel the respect he has for his teachers, and his nostalgia for Daystar.”

What would you say to yourself of 3 years ago?

…I would tell myself to plan better in general, as it would have helped me a lot with managing the workload of DP. Perhaps more importantly I would also tell myself to enjoy life and appreciate every moment, because I don’t think I fully appreciated the good times I had with friends and family at that time.

—Dante

I would tell my 10th grade self to be bolder when pursuing his passions and interests. I have found that often times in life, the initiatives and projects we take the furthest and are the most successful on, are the ones we truly care about and are truly interested in. I would tell my 10th grade self to truly listen to the advice of his parents and be grateful to them more often, because only when we look back on what are parents have done for us and sacrificed for us will we be truly appreciative of them, and often times it will then be too late to show them how much you are grateful.

—Joshua

Dante and Joshua share a set of traits that Daystar aims to instill in its students. These include being calm and resilient, having outstanding characters and a clear understanding of oneself, and being able to stick to a clear direction.

We wish these two Daystar students all the best in their gap year and beyond. We feel that all young people deserve to be respected, since they all have the potential to exceed our expectations with their wonderful ideas and noble aspirations.

迎接新的一年，沒有什么比一場精彩的匯演更合適啦！As the Curtain Rises to Welcome the New Year, There is Nothing Better than a Great Performance!

啟明星正式成為ACT GAC學校，提供ACT考試！Daystar Becomes an ACT GAC School