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Personal experience of meeting a successful person seems to impact the most. Kids, teenagers need to touch the reality of success not only in books or films, or their teachers' talks. Facing the power of growth mindset that steps along with hard work, effort, failure and again with hard work, effort ... success, strenghtens motivation, pushes to taking chalenges and learning.
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Ukrainian set of meetings
1st MEETING
On Sunday (12.03.2017) my 9, 10 and 11 GRADE students had a chance to enter 1-day PRACTICE CACTUS SEMINAR.
Practice CACTUSes (PCs) are one-day seminars designed for Ukrainian youth ages 15 - 19 throughout March, April, and May.
Last year CACTUS held 22 Practice CACTUS seminars.
CACTUS provides Ukrainian students with training in the basic principles of project planning, leadership, and social activism. These seminars also introduce students to the numerous world issues such as human rights, critical thinking, manipulation through mass media. Each seminar includes between 30-70 participating students from Ukraine and are conducted by teams of Ukrainian volunteers.
CACTUS (Community Action Ukrainian Style) is a non-religious, non-governmental, non-political, non-profit Organization aimed at developing and supporting Art, Technology, Education and Science in Ukraine. They host and organize multiple Domestic and International English language Activities, which motivate young people of Ukraine to engage in civic activism and make positive changes in their communities. They promote Leadership and World Issue awareness. Furthermore, they give hands-on experience in Project Design and Implementation to their participants.
Major CACTUS Activities include 1-day Practice CACTUS Seminars, a 10-day Summer Forum and Projects organized by their Alumni.
Ultimately, everything they do has one major purpose - to see the fire in the eyes of people, who participate in CACTUS. This is, they believe, how great things happen.They strive to inspire the youth for action, because only those people who act achieve results. Their job is to show that everything is possible, and they can be an example for others.
At CACTUS they provide solid theoretical foundation together with actual practice – their Alumni implement their own projects.
Olga Melnyk, Ukraine
2nd MEETING
THE MEETING WITH THE FLEX ALUMNI DIANA BABII
FLEX Program Description
Program Information
The Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) is a US government-sponsored program for secondary school students from ten of the newly independent states (NIS) - Eurasia. The program provides scholarship funding for students to travel to the United States, attend a US high school for a full academic year, and live with a US host family.
Since 1993, FLEX has provided scholarships to over 25,000 secondary school students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan to attend U.S. high school for a full academic year while living with a volunteer host family. Students learn about themselves and the world, and create friendships that last a lifetime.
In 2015 FLEX was delighted to welcome seven new countries to its portfolio: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and Serbia. Students from Serbia and Montenegro participated under the auspices of the A-SMYLE program from 2005-2015, and are now part of FLEX.
The goal of the FLEX program is to promote mutual understanding between citizens of the United States and countries across Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia while giving students from these regions the opportunity to learn about the U.S. and its institutions while teaching Americans about their countries.
Alumni return home galvanized and inspired to share their new experiences and knowledge and make a profound and positive impact on their home countries and communities.
History of the program
FLEX was established in 1992 as the centerpiece of the Eurasian Secondary School Initiative under the FREEDOM Support Act. Funding is provided by the US Department of State. The program was created out of the conviction of former Senator Bill Bradley that the best way to ensure long lasting peace and understanding between the United States and the countries of Eurasia is to enable young people from these countries to learn about the U.S. and Americans first-hand. The primary goal of FLEX is to improve mutual understanding between our countries and allow young citizens of Eurasia to have the opportunity to observe and experience the American system of civil society. Since the program's inception in 1993, over 22,000 young citizens from Eurasia have participated in FLEX and have returned to their countries imbued with a new enthusiasm and desire to help others and share their newly acquired experiences and knowledge for the betterment of their home communities and countries.
3rd MEETING
THE SKYPE MEETING WITH OUR LOCAL STAR KHRISTINA DUTCHAK
VOICE KIDS
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Pupils in Purda, Poland have met Kacper Mikolajczyk - a former student of the school.
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On the 22nd February we had a meeting with Bartek Chmielewski, a Taekwondo coach. He participated in many tournaments in Poland and abroad, and was the Polish representative on Taekwondo European Cadet Championships. His story was very moving. He told us about his hard work, grit, breakdowns, victories and evolution as a sportsman. The most interesting was his advice: While training sports do not forget about training your brain. Read books, learn other subjects. That makes your brain stronger. Stronger brain helps you to concentrate, think faster and WIN. His story has served us as the basis for motivational book. Click on the photo to read the story!
Butryny team, Poland
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Pupils in Greece met Paraskevi (Patty) Kontogianni, a music conductor.
There's also PDF available with the beneath presentation.
''If things are easy you will not be so happy. If your path has difficulties and you achieve your goal you will feel wonderful. So, you should find what you like and what you don’t like and PATIENTLY TRY again and again... step by step." - says Patty.
Our 2nd meeting...
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