A team of four ninth-graders from Boys Town Jerusalem has been awarded first place in the fourth annual “Jerusalem Fair for Scientific Research and Technological Solutions” held within the framework of Jerusalem Education Week. The Boys Town champs will now represent Jerusalem in the upcoming national Israeli competition.
The BTJ winning project is an innovative “life signal transmitter” in the form of a small, inexpensive ID bracelet that enables first responders to quickly pinpoint the exact location of missing persons. Team member Yehudah Naimark, 15, explained that the device utilizes radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to emit a lifesaving signal. “In a situation like the recent earthquake in Nepal, this apparatus could have saved countless victims. But on an everyday basis, there are over 5000 cases annually of missing persons in Israel alone, of whom some are never found. Instead of relying on trial and error, rescuers can now have the prototype for a device that can beat the dangerous race against time to locate the missing.”
According to Chana Cohen, Supervisor of Science and Technology Instruction for the Jerusalem District, the Boys Town team led by instructor Yosef Katzav came in first out of 45 high school teams. The panel of judges included experts from the Weitzman Institute, the Hebrew University, Broadcom Technology Israel Ltd., and other prestigious institutions.
Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel’s premier institutions for educating the country’s next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From Junior High through the College level, the three part curriculum at Boys Town – academic, technological and Torah – is designed to turn otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. Boys Town’s 18 acre campus is a home away from home for its more than 900 students.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
So you’re supposed to wear this thing all the time? Just in case? So that the authorities and anyone else with a simple RFID receiver can track your movements 24/7? No thanks.
Boystown was founded by Rabbi Alexander Linchner a”h, close talmid and son-in-law of R’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz a”h.
It certainly makes sense for people going into the wilderness or sparsely populated areas to wear one. Also those traveling near Arab locales would be wise to wear one.