Conflicted summer

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Shay Doron is quick to smile or make a joke. She proudly wears a necklace that bears the ring she received as a member of the Maryland women's basketball team that won the national championship in April.

Doron is living a dream. She met the president, was honored at a Baltimore Orioles game and, in general, is enjoying the spoils that come with winning a national title. The senior guard with the happy-go-lucky attitude has become a celebrity in College Park and the surrounding area after leading the Terrapins to the ultimate prize.

"We were drinking lemonade on the White House lawn and saying, 'Wow, we're drinking lemonade on the White House lawn,'" she says. "It has been amazing."

There is, however, a cloud over her feel-good summer.

Doron is continually thinking about her native Israel, where most of her family still lives, and that country's fight with Hezbollah. A cease-fire took effect yesterday, but she spent the past month worrying about family and friends. She monitored the news and received daily phone updates from her mother, Tamari, who rode out the hostilities at the family home outside Tel Aviv.

"It is just tough because all my friends, my guy friends, are still serving in the military," the 21-year-old senior says. "I know at least 10 or 15 have signed on for a few more years with the Navy, and they are really embattled. It is really scary. I just don't want to hear any bad news."

The fighting has taken an emotional toll on her family, although she considers herself fortunate since no one has been injured. One set of grandparents and an aunt became refugees, fleeing to Tel Aviv from their homes in northern Israel near the Lebanon border to get out of range of Hezbollah rockets.

Her uncle Meir sent his wife and children to safety in Denmark while he stayed at their home not far from Lebanon.

"He is still working because somebody has to make a living," Doron says. "My uncle is in a bomb shelter five, six times a day. It is no kind of life to live. Hopefully, what we are doing will make it stop eventually."

In addition to her national title ring, Doron wears a royal blue bracelet with an inscription that reads "Stay strong for Israel." Doron has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel. She spent her first two years of high school in her homeland, then moved back to America -- she previously spent eight years here -- to play for power Christ the King High School in New York.