Shield of the Reserves Award
Technion receives the Magen HaMiluim (Shield of the Reserves) Award
The Technion received the Shield of the Reserves Award on Monday. The award was granted by Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan and Chief Reserve Officer Brig. Gen. Hosea Friedman, at a ceremony paying tribute to the IDF’s reservists at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. The award, which is given to organizations and employers, is in recognition of the support for employees and college students serving in the reserves and in order to raise awareness of their contribution to society and to the country’s security.
“We are pleased and proud to receive the award,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “Thousands of students who serve in the reserves attend the Technion, and the award is granted in recognition of the tremendous effort invested by the Technion in caring for its reservists and assisting them in routine and emergency situations. Moreover, for us it is first and foremost an expression of our gratitude to the thousands of Technion students who drop everything and present themselves for service when they receive their first call-up notice. This is the spirit and these are the values that we aspire to and inculcate at the Technion.”
The award was accepted on behalf of the Technion by David Orad, reserve coordinator at the TSA, the Technion Student Association. Orad is a third year student at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a reservist in the Israel Navy. He said: “The Technion and the TSA provide considerable assistance and benefits to students who are also reservists. Students come to the Technion to learn and succeed, and part of my job as reserve coordinator is to protect reservists through benefits that make life easier for them – textbooks, free photocopies, social benefits and more.” Orad added: “It makes us very proud to know that the Technion and the Student Association are receiving the award for taking care of reservists and giving them what they are entitled to and even more.”
Major (Ret.) Amit Gilboa, a third year student at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Transportation Infrastructure track, serves in the reserves as commander of an Armored Corps company in a battalion of the Harel Brigade. Gilboa, 30, completed his service in the IDF in 2012 after five years in the career army. During his studies, he participated in Operation Protective Edge, serving in the reserves for 35 days. “We received considerable support from the Technion and great understanding on the part of the professors and teaching assistants. The Technion, through the Unit for Student Advancement, helps reservists with make-up classes and make-up tests. As someone who still serves an average 30 days of reserve duty every year, I feel that the Technion has considerable sympathy and empathy for students serving in the reserves. The TSA also does a lot for the reservists, complementing the assistance that we receive from the Technion itself.
The benefits for reservists at the Technion include make-up tests, time extensions, exemption from homework, textbooks and free photocopies and even academic credits. The TSA, in collaboration with the Technion, also provides reservists with social benefits such as stand-up comedy shows and free tickets to the student festival.
Right to Left: Technion student, Amit Gilboa, Executive Vice President and Director General of the Technion, Matanyahu Englman, Chief Reserve Officer of the IDF, Brig. Gen. Hosea Friedman, Reserve Coordinator at the Technion Student Association, David Orad and Nimrod Harani, Vice Chairman of the Technion Student Association.