It’s full summer! And that means that “PROJECTOR” volunteers conduct summer classes for children in villages and small towns all over Poland. This year students carry out classes in two program’s paths – a passion, and new technologies.
The classes reflect volunteers’ individual passions and interests. Thus, the projects come from very broad range of fields – from ornithology, through painting and dancing, to sports or construction. The classes stimulate children’s curiosity of the world, improve their skills to build relationships, and create space to encouraging each other to act. For volunteers, they are a space for personal development and gain new, valuable experiences.
In Municipal and Communal Culture and Sports Center in Stąporków, Świętokrzyskie province, the biology workshops were held. The children isolated DNA from bananas under the watchful eye of volunteers Aleksander Wielebski and Kamil Górski. In Nałęczów, Monika Zajdel, Konrad Celer and Krzysztof Jarocki infected children with their passion for music and sports. The meeting place for the volunteers and children was the Culture Center. They were creative, active, and energetic meetings!
Classes under the IT for SHE KIDS path were held in Municipal Culture Center in Bełżyce. Izabela Mielniczek and Bartosz Wac introduced the children to the world of programming and new technologies. The participants have learned what an algorithm is (and what it has in common with making sandwiches with cheese), and then the children programmed a robot by themselves. Working in teams and using trial and error method, the children were learning how to create the correct code. The participants had also an opportunity to check their constructor skills – they built a remote-controlled vehicle with Lego bricks. And even held the race! An important aspect of the project was the group integration, strengthening the relations and encouraging each other to act.
The objective of IT for SHE KIDS workshop is to increase interest in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) area among children, and support women-technological experts and social leaders. IT for SHE Kids volunteering is run in cooperation with Perspectives Educational Foundation.
To date, 42 educational projects have been implemented. The classes were attended by 830 students of 42 educational institutions all over Poland. They were conducted by a group of 143 student volunteers.
