Despite the string of suicide bombings and the seemingly unending violence, the nine young women who recently graduated from Shalheves High School are focused on going to Israel to study for a year.

Most acknowledge being scared about traveling to the Middle East in the fall, but they feel drawn to Israel and say their experiences will connect them more to their homeland.

"My mother is really afraid of the situation in Israel, but I'm not going to stop living," said Esther Topas, 18, of Park Heights who will attend Midreshet Tehilla school in Jerusalem. "I will just try and live the right way and have faith."

The graduates think of their trip to Israel as a history lesson coming alive.

Seven of the girls will be in schools in Jerusalem and the other two will be enrolled in schools outside Tel Aviv. They will study Hebrew, ancient history, the Bible, Jewish law and ethics, among other subjects, said Rabbi Lee Jay Lowenstein, principal of the all-girls Orthodox Jewish high school at Baltimore Hebrew University on Park Heights Avenue.

The girls say the year in Israel, for what they call seminary, is a natural transition after high school.

"Seminary is where we learn to live independently and find out who we are as people," said Leah Kowalsky, 17, of Park Heights, who will head to the Michlelet Orot school outside Tel Aviv.

The teen-agers, who were the first graduates of the 3-year-old Shalheves school, have strong opinions about living in a country where violence and attacks by terrorists have become a way of life.

"The people living there are frightened, but it is a very spiritual land, so they are not going to be scared off," Kowalsky said.

Of living in Israel, Hennie Gibber, 17, of Park Heights said, "It will be something I will cherish the rest of my life."

Devora Baer, 17, of Park Heights has lived in Israel and has relatives in the West Bank. "I felt a part of the land," she said. "I can't give in to terrorism."

"I'm not going to allow myself to be afraid," said Yael Meyerowitz, 18, who commuted from Harrisburg, Pa., for two years to attend Shalheves. She is counting the days until she leaves for Afekei Torah school in Jerusalem.

"It's my home," said Meyerowitz, who will be volunteering for an ambulance service there. "Our ancestors were not afraid. We can't be, either."

The girls received their high school diplomas during ceremonies June 9. The nine graduates also got a bonus: Each received 20 college credits for classes they had completed through Baltimore Hebrew University.

The teen-agers spent part of each day during their senior year studying college-level history, computers, psychology and language arts with professors from different campuses. They also took advanced fitness training at the nearby Jewish Community Center.

Shalheves, with 42 students in grades nine through 12, is the only school offering college-level classes in partnership with Baltimore Hebrew University, Lowenstein said.

All nine students plan to attend college after their year abroad. They have been accepted at Goucher College, Towson University, the University of Maryland's College Park and Baltimore County campuses, and Stern College for Women in New York City.

The idea for the school was born in the home of Rabbi Avrum Kowalsky, Leah's father, with the help of three other rabbis, Simcha Baer (Devora's father), Chaim Gottesman and Aaron Gibber (Hennie's father), said Sylvia Eisenberg, assistant principal.

Eisenberg has been at the school since it opened in 1999 with 21 girls in ninth and 10th grades. The 11th grade was added for the 2000-2001 school year and the 12th grade this year.

Eisenberg said the rabbis thought girls should be in a school where they could take advantage of all learning situations, where they would be free to ask questions and where they could fulfill themselves as people.

Paramount was that the girls be prepared to attend college so they could choose careers to work in the community, she said.

"We work very hard at teaching the girls," Eisenberg said. "We are sure they are prepared for college and also prepared to relate to others, to respect the opinions of others."

The yearly tuition is $6,500, Eisenberg said. Tuition for the college credits was $1,300 per semester.

Shalheves is open to exploring various forms of education, said Lowenstein, who is in his first year as principal. He said the success of the school has yet to be determined: That will occur in 15 to 20 years, when the students have become adults and professionals and are out in the world.

"We want them to have the resources to make the right choices," Lowenstein said.