Alumni are incredibly important to 国标麻豆视频APP. OKC Zach Freund (Dorot Carmel 2013) opens up about his uni days, his amazing experiences in Israel and the UK, dealing with the COVID pandemic isolation and how fondly he remembers his favourite Carmel teachers. We've loved catching up with an important member of the Carmel Family!

Welcome to Humans of Carmel Zach! When did you graduate from Carmel?

I graduated in 2012.

You studied at UWA after leaving school. What was your field of study and why were you drawn to it?

I did a BSc majoring in Microbiology and Immunology. I really loved Physics and Chemistry during High School but never got to study much biology, so when it came to my major I was looking at either micro or biochem, and in the end decided to learn something familiar but new.听

You鈥檙e living in Haifa, Israel and have been involved with Habonim Dror for some time. What drew you to Habo and what sort of experiences have you had with the youth movement since joining it?

So I have actually just moved to Be鈥檈r Sheva after living in Haifa for four years. I have been involved in the youth movement since the age of nine! I think being involved in a youth movement is the best thing a young Jew can do. Especially for me growing up in Perth, I felt like Habonim perfectly complemented my experience at Carmel by providing an alternative and additional way for me to engage with my Jewish and Zionist identity. I went on shnat in 2013 and led the movement for three years after that before making aliyah and being a shnat madrich in 2018 for Australians and New Zealanders. Now I spend most of my time with Habonim in the UK!

The advent of COVID has affected much of the world and the ability of individuals to travel. How have you dealt with this and its impact on your role within a movement where travel is very much part of the program?

It has been really difficult, to be honest. I haven鈥檛 seen most of my family in over two years and am missing them deeply. In terms of the movement and my work, I also have not been able to see my chanichim in Australia or New Zealand for two years now, which means Zoom is our main form of communication. Obviously, it is amazing that these days communication across the globe has improved so much, but nothing beats face-to-face.

Do you have any plans to return to Perth in the near future?

Yes! As soon as it is viable I鈥檒l be there, for sure.

If there鈥檚 one Carmel teacher you could single out as being an influence in your life, who would that be and what would you say to them?

That鈥檚 tough, because I had a lot of amazing teachers. Mrs Brass, my accounting teacher and Mrs Paioff, my chem teacher were really influential for me in Year 11 and 12 and I would probably thank them for being such caring teachers who were clearly passionate about educating and not just viewing teaching as a job.

What鈥檚 your favourite place to go in Israel when you鈥檝e got time off?

There are too many places to just list one! But the beach in Haifa, The Shuk in Akko and the Little Prince Cafe in Tel Aviv have to top the list.