And thanks to the teacher who didn't believe in me

The end of the year has arrived, and the long summer break is definitely here. All media are full of pictures of parents proud of their children and their report cards.

I wondered, what would have happened if Facebook existed during my school days? Would my parents have uploaded a proud picture?

I remember myself as a child and teenager just hoping to finish the school year, to know that I would move up a grade. I remember my mother's look at a far-from-perfect report card, searching for a ray of light, encouraging me and reminding me what was truly important. My mother would run around trying to find ways to help me. What didn't they try on me... private tutors, new learning methods of all kinds, assessments... everything to help me. Perhaps from the outside, it looked like I was a lazy child, but that wasn't the case, I really tried.

What kept me going and ultimately saved me was that my parents identified two strong areas in me. One was dance - I danced from a very young age and even took a dance matriculation exam at the dance ulpana in Kibbutz Ga'aton.

And the second area was design - I studied in the design track at "Ofek" school in Kibbutz Evron, while I studied the rest of the subjects and core curriculum at "Sulam Tzur" school in Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv.

In high school, I had no time to breathe! I would travel to school in the morning, study long days, twice a week the design track until 4 PM, and every day I would go up to Ga'aton to dance for three hours and return home in the evening. This was my routine throughout high school, including my matriculation exams.

I remember that during the transition from junior high to high school, one of the teachers approached me during recess and said: Avital, how do you plan to get a full matriculation certificate, in both the design track and the dance track? You have so many learning difficulties, even Ido (a fictitious name), who is the genius of the grade, can't handle so many credit units!

I remember my shock and hurt from that conversation, and at that moment I chose to prove to her that I was capable, with blood, sweat, and many tears, of finishing 12 years with a full matriculation certificate. And I did it! With all the difficulties.

That teacher didn't understand that the two tracks (design and dance) were exactly where I thrived, where I "flew." They didn't pose any difficulty or frustration for me, unlike the regular classes.

Later, after my military service, I enrolled in industrial design studies at the Holon Institute of Technology.

I continued, in fact, to empower and express one of my greatest strengths - design.

I finished after 4 difficult and grueling, but enjoyable and empowering years, submitting a final project that won with honors.

Today I am ready to share and expose my feelings; years have passed and I am in a place where I am much less ashamed. I understand that my dyslexia and attention disorders allow me to be who I am. And at the same time, I continue to look for ways to overcome the limitations, to express myself better, to achieve attention and concentration in my own way.

I'll give an example: a situation that stemmed from my difficulty became a language for me. For those who noticed, all AV product names are written in English Hebrew. For example, candelabra = PAMOT. I wanted it to be easy for me to remember my product names in English, so I decided to create my own language. I simply gave it the name "pamot" in "English."

Since I started giving lectures about my journey until opening the business, I have been revealing my dyslexia, who Avital truly is. Perhaps thanks to these lectures, I also gained the courage to write this blog post.

So to all those students looking at their "challenging" report card, don't give up! Look for that profession / hobby / talent / thing that ignites passion in you and empower it. Know that precisely in a place full of obstacles, the most important life lessons are learned, and that's what will make you not give up in the future.

And to you, dear parents, remember! "I'm not giving up on you because I'm not giving up on you!"

Every child needs one adult who believes in them and sees them.

A report card is a collection of comments and insights, translated into numerical ratings. If we look at the report card a little differently, like a kind of soul-searching for the child with themselves, examining how much they invested and if they gave their all… if so, then excellent. The number doesn't really matter.

Thanks to my parents who, throughout the years, saw me, identified my strengths, and tried to find every possible and impossible way for me to grow.

A final thank you to my husband, who has been with me since high school, who never looked at the difficulty / the extra challenges I have to go through. Thank you for believing in me and the path I'm on.

I wish all of us, students and parents, an enjoyable, safe, and recharging summer break. (Well, "recharging" is less directed at the parents among us :) )