Jordan hytken

After IGF I moved back to the States and began to work in the healthcare tech space, and specifically in the area of federal government hospitals. Since I left Israel, my focus has always been on how could I get back. For the past 10 years my heart has always been in Israel, and it’s time for me to come home. 

​

It had been an old dream of mine to join the US military, but I have a rare condition which made that impossible. I had always wanted to serve. When I completed my Birthright trip I immediately started to look for ways to stay in Israel, and I found IGF. I was placed in an amazing internship that was right within my passion, and got to do work that I was really excited about. I was able to serve. IGF gave me that opportunity to really, really contribute. I recently took my fiancé to visit the ministry, ten years after I had left, and she was amazed to hear the kind of responsibility we were given back then. And I know that my next steps are going include starting a family and finding a way to continue giving back to the State of Israel. It's the missing piece.

​

Ten months in Israel were enough for me to miss it deeply for 10 years. My soul is in Israel. it's just an amazing place, and I was able to experience it this way thanks to IGF. IGF has had such a tremendous influence on myself and my peers – whether thy stayed in Israel and are doing incredibly well, or whether they continued elsewhere to become leaders.

​

As a 23-year-old grad student I could not have predicated any of this. IGF was probably one of the most important experiences of my life for many reasons, but it also gave me a level of confidence based on the things that i achieved within that placement that I didn't think were going to be possible. Another thing that's so important about IGF is the diversity. It brings together such different people from different backgrounds, and lets them come together to express issues and solve problems. They're coming to make Israel a better place.

​

Israel is a place that gives young people the opportunity to be successful and that is such a unique thing. it's breeds success for anybody who's willing to work hard and care and give it their all. I can't wait to be back.