Personality Builder

When the door opened to Dr. Yaakov Fuchs’ classroom last month, the longtime Boys Town Jerusalem English teacher welcomed a tall, slim young man. As he shook Dr. Fuchs’ hand, the visitor, 36-year-old Ronen Atia, barely resembled the boy he had been twenty years earlier – a weak student plagued by a lack of confidence and very low self-esteem.

 

“The four years that I lived and studied at Boys Town Jerusalem turned my life around.”“I was your student in high school in the late 1990s,” Ronen reminded Dr. Fuchs. “I learned English, of course, but you taught me something far more essential. You gave me the belief that it’s always possible to succeed, that I had the power to change my life.”

As Dr. Fuchs was delighted to hear, this belief has inspired Ronen Atia to reach great heights indeed. Now married and the father of three, Ronen has worked for the past seven years as an educator in the “Kedma Youth Village,” an educational and therapeutic facility for adolescent drop-outs, delinquents and other youth at risk.

 

“You gave me the belief that it’s always possible to succeed, that I had the power to change my life.”“The four years that I lived and studied at Boys Town Jerusalem turned my life around,” he declared. “Now this is what I am trying to do for others.” Ronen sees himself as a “personality builder” who inspires troubled youth with confidence and the belief that they can achieve whatever they dream.

Ronen, a native of the port city of Ashkelon, notes that Boys Town Jerusalem principal vacation Rabbi Elimelech Yaakov has been a great beacon to him as well. “Rabbi Elimelech imbued us with the spiritual strength and knowledge for life. These two teachers had a tremendous influence on my life, and their examples guide me to this day.”