The article discusses how two students from different backgrounds - Lee Frankel-Goldwater, a Jew from Riverdale, and Manar Saria, an Arab from Haifa, Israel - were able to overcome cultural barriers and work together on environmental projects after attending the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies in Israel. The institute's mission is to prepare future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve environmental challenges. The students' experience showed that despite political divisions, people of different backgrounds can unite over common goals like environmental protection.