Sophomore Rosey Limmer, along with 75 other students from the U.S., will start their much anticipated semester abroad program with URJ Heller School in Israel on January 27th.

“I am very excited, but right now it is really weird how close it is,” Limmer said. “It’s funny, I feel like I have a little bit of senioritis right now since I am constantly counting how many classes I have left before I leave.”

URJ Heller School is an American boarding school for Jewish teenagers. Limmer will live and stay in the Tzova Kibbutz, which is located right outside of Jerusalem, in the Judean Hills. The mission of the URJ Heller school is for a student to “Immerse yourself in the richness of the land, culture, people and history of Israel, all while earning high school credit.”

For the last 9 years, Limmer has attended Camp Eisner for 8 weeks every summer. Camp Eisner is owned by the same company as URJ Heller School. After many of Limmer’s own counselors experienced the same program, she was inspired to follow in their footsteps. “Although my dad is a Rabbi,” Limmer said, “I really did gain my interest in the program through my camp and counselors.”

Camp Eisner promotes URJ Heller school during the camp season. “One of my favorite counselors and mentor talked very fondly of the program and it sparked an interest in me,” Limmer said. “I think it will be a nice way to build my character and a great opportunity to not only travel, which I love, but learn to be independent without having the pressure of my family.”

During the semester, Limmer will take many one week trips to places like Poland, one week of basic training in the Israeli army, and take a 44-mile hike from Galileo to the Mediterranean Sea.

“Since I am not a big language person, I think Israel is the best place for me,” Limmer said. “I definitely love world culture and being able to travel builds into your perspectives of the world.”

Limmer will not have to retake any of her classes Junior year. “They gather the syllabi from where you take school and replicate it so I will be taking the same curriculum there that I would be taking at Parker,” Limmer said. “I will also be getting more credit than at Parker because, in addition to my five core classes, I am taking 2 hours of Hebrew and 3 hours of Jewish history.”

“I think the hardest part will be keeping myself going because I have to be accountable for myself since nobody will be telling me to do my homework or clean my room,” Limmer said. “I am also nervous to leave my friends because I am a person who has FOMO so being away for so long will be kinda hard. Overall, I am very excited to see who is going on the program and experience new cultures!”