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The microphones and monitors at Radio Focus are standard broadcasting equipment. This studio, however, is not located at a slick downtown office building, but rather at Ayalon prison near Ramle. Radio Focus is a groundbreaking, inmate rehabilitation initiative of the Israel Prison Service, in cooperation with Sapir Academic College. Now in its fourth year of operation, the station broadcasts 24/7 to prisons throughout Israel. At Radio Focus, inmates are in charge of production, content and editing.

Shakespeare famously thought lawyers were the problem. At Sapir Academic College, we think otherwise. A vital and responsive legal system is essential for Israel’s democracy. Legal professoinals must, first and foremost, serve the very people whom law and justice were instituted to protect. As long as every day citizens struggle with a heartless bureacracy or unscrupulous employers, lawyers must be there to step up and do the right thing.

As of this writing, thousands of rockets and other projectiles have been fired at Israeli communities from Gaza and -- as usual -- residents of the Gaza envelope are on the front lines. Hundreds of rockets have landed in and around Sapir Academic College, and the nearby town of Sderot has suffered numerous direct hits – one of which took the life of five years old Ido Avigal. Another rocket landed across the road from the front gate of the College. Located just 2.5 kilometers from the border, Sapir Academic College has operated in the shadow of military conflict for over 20 years.

On May 12, the Management addressed the Sapir Community: Dear Students and Staff, We hope that you and your loved ones are well, safe and secure.  All of us are experiencing challenging times, from the north of the country to the south and in particular the western Negev and Gaza Envelope communities.  Sapir has always been an open academic home that provides accessible and high-level college education to all segments of Israeli society.

At Sapir, academia is not about understanding the world, but changing it. Students like Mia Levy make that happen. Now, Israel’s Council for Higher Education has honored Levy for outstanding volunteer service to the community. Mia, who recently completed her studies at the Sapir Academic College School of Social Work, conceived and launched a volunteer effort to assist the Bnei Moshe, a community of immigrants from the northeastern India. The Bnei Menashe believe they are descendants of the tribe of Menashe, exiled from their ancestral home in the 8th century, BCE.

In a modern economy, financial accounting is serious business. Reliable auditing is the very language that enables creditors, shareholders, government and business to interact and make rational decisions. At Sapir, training the most qualified personnel to fill this vital economic function is a growing academic priority. And now the results are in. Our graduates have scored first place in this year’s financial accounting exams conducted by the Auditors’ Council, the statutory government body that licenses certified public accountants in Israel.

Sapir Academic College is thrilled to honor this year’s outstanding students. Not only are we proud of their achievements. These exemplars of academic excellence are the fulfillment of our vision as an institution, and of the educational pioneers who made Sapir what it is today. To give this idea palpability and meaning, Sapir grants summa cum titles in the name of our most distinguished honor laureates, of blessed memory, such as the late college president, Prof. Zeev Tzachor, Prof. Uri Regev, founder of our economics department, and Dr.