The fifth generation of the Lighthouse of Knowledge started at the beginning of September with a three-day seminar in Valjevo, where teams of high school students had the opportunity to meet their peers, coordinators and mentors, as well as gain basic knowledge about project writing and start working on their ideas.
The lighthouse of knowledge is a traditional competition for high school students that brings together young people from 15 cities in Serbia with the aim of designing creative projects to improve their local community. Young people are writing projects that will directly respond to problems in the local community, on one of five topics – ecology, tourism, culture, public health and social activism. The project is being implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, dm drogerie markt in Serbia and Erste Bank Serbia.
At the opening ceremony of the fifth generation of the project, Snežana Klašnja addressed the participants in front of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, who gave the young people the wind in their backs and additional support for the realization of future projects.
During the seminar, young people had the opportunity to participate in many team building sessions where they had the opportunity to get to know each other and learn more about the project, as well as to attend educational training held by Milica Malešević on idea development, communication and others. topics important for further work on projects.
A special session where young people could learn more about the first steps towards forming an idea is extremely important for us because the lecturers are old participants, and from this year the president and general secretary of the Alumni Board – Emilija Milenković and Sara Krsmanić.
After the seminar in front of the teams, there is still a lot of work to be done. The ideas they came up with during the event should be translated into feasible projects, while their mentors and coordinators will help them to realize their ideas and persevere in the ideas they have set.
The work on developing the ideas that the teams came up with in cooperation with professional mentors will last for two months, and includes weekly webinars that chronologically follow the development of each team’s ideas. Progress checks are organized three times during the program, while the teams themselves are connected through a special program of “partner teams” to foster a culture of togetherness and helping. The final projects will be presented at the final event of the Knowledge Saints in November, where the teams will present their works in front of an expert jury consisting of representatives of successful socially responsible companies, humanitarian foundations, media and organizations that have developed programs to encourage youth activism and entrepreneurship.
Whether their idea wins the Lighthouse of Knowledge 5.0 or not, all teams will have ready projects after the program, which they will be able to present as a local youth initiative in their place.
