Between the 10th of September - the 24th of October 2018, the volunteering students who are members of the Club for Peace Act+ from “Virgil Madgearu” Technological Economic High School in Iaşi were involved in the development of the project Lessons of the Past for the Future - PEACE, within the Euroscola National Competition, the 11th edition (2018-2019). Among the objectives of the project were capitalizing the experiences gathered by the students during the Erasmus+ strategic partnership KA201 "Listen Stories engaged in the Past - WW II" in the service of knowing the past and appreciating peace as a universal value and multiplying the model and the principles of the Club for Peace Act+ in other schools and in the community.
The project was a successful one, the students being rewarded with the participation to "The Euroscola Day" in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on the 21st of February, 2019.
You can find out more about the activities carried out on the Facebook page of the project:
https://www.facebook.com/clubactplus.ltevm.iasi
or in the video of the project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWHkMEqUblI&t=7s
To summarize, some of the most important activities were:
Activities developed in our high school
1. The Celebration of the International Day of Peace — the 21th of September
The volunteers prepared an artistic moment entitled Moment of Peace, meant to draw attention upon violence in school and in society, stressing the necessity of each individual’s involvement to promote peace and its value and to embrace dialogue, peace, love, solidarity and self-sacrifice. They challenged their class-mates, proposing The Day without Conflicts. Coming to their aid, the volunteers gave them some practical pieces of advice so that everyone would spend their 21th of September without any conflict. Evidently, the general purpose was to duplicate this day onward by applying all the received advice.
2. The workshop “Europe for Us - Educating the young in the Spirit of European Values”, developed in partnership with EuroDEMOS Association on the 5th of October, the International Day for Education, to present to the students the opportunities for European funding, as well as the values of the European Union. The volunteers were challenged to reflect on the role of education in a harmonious becoming of a future European citizen, a responsible and active one, involved in the life of the community.
Activities in other educational institutions and with the IMPACT Clubs
1. In the middle kindergarten group (the Smurfs) from the Full Day Kindergarten No 21 and in the upper-kindergarten (The Sportive Kids) from the Full Day Kindergarten No. 4, the volunteers briefly presented the Club’s activities and its role within the community and mostly played alongside the children. Starting from a famous tale, „Little Red Riding Hood”, they modified the classical script in order to tackle the conflictual situations that often occur between children. They also challenged the children to analyse the reasons for which conflicts arise and find solutions to make up. Aiming to consolidate the positive behaviour in children, the little ones were asked to work in pairs under our students’ guidance, using the worksheets they had prepared. At the end of this activity, they had to create the Tree of the Peace Ambassadors.
2. In the primary school class The Bears - class 1st G, Step by Step, and the class The Bees – class 3rd from „Titu Maiorescu” School, the approach slightly differed. The volunteers played the characters from the famous story „Little Red Riding Hood”, but they changed the script and the moral traits of those involved in the performance. The children immediately noticed the difference from the classical script, creating the perfect premise for a debate regarding the importance of one’s personality traits in the relationship with the others. The next step was the identification of other stories in which the characters argue, the children being invited to find solutions for avoiding conflicts, and to think of instances of such moments in their personal experience. After presenting the model of the Club for Peace Act +, the children were invited to work in pairs with a friend using the specially prepared worksheet and to present it in front of their peers, each mentioning the qualities they appreciated the most at their pair-mate. All the doves were placed in the Tree of the Peace Ambassadors, which remained in the classroom as a reminder - anytime a fight is on the point of occurring – that through peace and friendship they can find the best solution!
3. The meetings with the students of gymnasium level from class 6A from „Alexandru cel Bun”, respectively Class VIIF and VIIIE from The National College in Iasi had a double aim taking into account the higher level of understanding. After the „Moment of Peace”, having thus the necessary context, the volunteers presented the two Intellectual Outputs of the KA201 Erasmus+ strategic partnership, inviting students to read them in the school libraries, to which we donated samples in printed and digital format, both in Romanian and in English. The presentation of the books was accompanied by the illustration of them through the authentic testimonies of the survivors told by our students, who acted as „living books”, and through a video collage with role-plays adapted from the national literature, on the theme of the Second World War. In the second part, the volunteers promoted the model of the Club for Peace Act+, organised in order to develop within our students positive, tolerant, behaviours, based on respect, acceptance and mutual valorisation. Having as starting point „The Day with NO conflicts” moment, the discussion was brought into the present, to what we can do ourselves. We started with some recommendations to avoid conflicts and we encouraged students to create their own message of Peace, as they feel. The solutions they proposed were not only interesting but also very anchored in the present life, demonstrating that anyone can promote peace, if he/she wishes!
4. At the high school level, to the activity organised at „Ioan C. Ştefănescu” Technical College participated 70 students from Class 9E, 10C, 11C and 12C from the host school and from Class 10B and 12D from „Gheorghe Asachi” Technical College, members of the IMPACT Club Ştefănescu and IMPACT Club Asachi. The programme was dense, trying to cover the most important aspects of the activity within the Club for Peace Act+ and the most relevant outcomes of the strategic partnership carried out together with 4 European schools. We started with the „Moment of Peace”, aiming to sensitize the audience, followed by two testimonies of the WII survivors, in the lecture of the „living books” Carmen Pruteanu and Delia Tudorache, and the introduction of the two Intellectual Outputs. We continued with the description of the way the Club for Peace Act+ is organised, its aim and guiding principles, a video collage comprising its activities. Stressing the idea that we should learn from the past for a present and future under the guidance of peace, the volunteers presented the „Steps towards a better place” moment – advice for a Month of Peace. In the end, all the high school students received a dove, on which they were invited to write a message on/of Peace.
We were glad to see the beautiful and creative messages written by the students, a fact that inforces us the hope that together we can build a better world for all! Moreover, the IMPACT Club members presented within the IMPACT network their experience, in order to be replicated.
Activities at the level of community
1. The campaign „The Peace Month” (21 September – 21 October) to reflect on the importance of peace for a better world for all.
The students created a video collage, uploaded on the project website, and organised the „Peace March” together with our partners, EuroDEMOS Association and with the support of Iasi City Hall, in order to draw the attention of our community on the importance of peace and its benefits for society. Wearing the white T-shirts with the Club logo, the volunteering students addressed to the pedestrians a message for peace and equilibrium, sharing doves and candies with little pieces of advice for peace and recommendation to avoid conflicts. They also advertised the activity of the Club for Peace Act+ and the Euroscola project by means of the flyers given to those interested.
2. The Commemoration of the Holocaust in Romania
On the 9th of October 2018, the volunteers of the Club for Peace Act+ were invited to present their activity within the event entitled “Education for the understanding of the Past. The Commemoration of the Holocaust in Romania”, organised by the General School Inspectorate in Iasi, together with the Central University Library and the Community of the Hebrews in Iasi, our partner. The presentation of the two Intellectual Outputs was followed by the two testimonies of the WII survivors, in the lecture of the „living books” Carmen Pruteanu and Delia Tudorache. And because we established as major aim to learn from the past for a better present and future, the volunteers prepared the artistic moment „Steps for a Better World”, within the „Peace Month”, promoted by the Club for Peace Act+.
Between the 4th of March and the 4th of April 2019, 20 members of the Club for Peace Act+ attended the "Conflict Management" training course, in order to be abilitated to intervene and act as mediators in conflictual situation. The course was held by Mrs Aurora Cristina Balan, the founder of the Club, who is a recognised mediator. Besides the theoretical part, students took part in many applications, such as role-plays, in order to exercise and develop competencies necessary to manage positively a conflictua situation.
"The ACT 4 Europe" month was organised between the 6th of May and the 6th of June 2019, in order to disseminate and exploit the results of the strategic partnerships and mobility projects implemented in our school. The volunteers of the Club for Peace Act+ organised and coordinated several activities, such as "The Nation Heroes Day", workshop for promoting the European values, volunteering activities in the community - donations for elder people and for newborn babies). Through these activities, we aimed at developing the civic responsibility in our students for a more active participation of them in the life of the communities they belong to and for raising awareness regarding the necessity to promote peace.