For many teenagers, high school is filled with sports practices, homework, and time with friends.
For 16-year-old Alma Bilia, it also means answering emergency calls.
A youth volunteer at Magen David Adom's Netanya station, Alma has spent the past year learning what it truly means to care for others during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Yet she never expected her journey to begin with a single classroom presentation.
"One day in middle school, an MDA instructor came to speak to our class about everything the organization does," Alma recalled. "I remember thinking, I have to be part of this. From that moment on, it became my dream."
Today, that dream has become part of her everyday life.
"My MDA shifts are my favorite part of the week," she said. "It's where I feel most at home. I get to do what I love most, helping people when they're at their most vulnerable, being there for them, and supporting them. Along the way, I've also found lifelong friends."
Her commitment doesn't stop when her shift ends.
Recently, Alma completed MDA's Youth Instructor Course and will soon begin teaching first aid to ninth-grade students, helping introduce a new generation of volunteers to emergency medicine and lifesaving skills.
For Alma, volunteering is about more than learning how to respond to emergencies.
It is about belonging to something larger than herself: a community united by compassion, responsibility, and a shared commitment to helping others.
As Magen David Adom prepares the next generation of EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, and volunteers, young people like Alma are already proving that age is no barrier to making a difference.
Sometimes, all it takes is one classroom presentation to inspire a lifetime of service.
