FLEX ALUMNI PROJECTS

OCTOBER 2012

FLEX ALUMNI COORDINATOR IN MOLDOVA

ALEXANDR HRIPTUN

PART A - ALUMNI ACTIVITIES

Teachers Day Celebration in Calarasi: On October 5th, the International Teachers Day, Nicoleta Dvornicov11 (Calarasi city representative), who is also the president of student council, coordinated 20 council members in organizing a colorful concert and celebration for the teachers of lyceum Mihail Sadoveanu of Calarasi. The 33 teachers of the lyceum had many surprises during the day: the first class started with a song sang by the students, flowers, balloons, diplomas, etc. As Nicoleta says that the teachers were really happy and they told her that it was a lovely day full of joy and happiness. The mayor of Calarasi was also present at the concert, which shows great results of Nicoleta and her teams work. Movie Night in Chisinau: On October 13th, ten FLEX alumni from Chisinau and neighbouring cities gathered in American Councils office for the movie night. Alexandr Hriptun, alumni coordinator, who invited fellow alumni to the movie screening, kept the name of the film in secret. However, everybody liked the choice of Freedom Writers. Nicoleta Nichifor12 said: I cried, I laughedIt was really an awesome movie. The choice was motivated by Alexandrs personal interest in education and in teaching tolerance and diversity. Before the movie alumni shared their recent news and successes with each other. There will be other movie nights coming as well, not only for alumni, but also for other interested people. Casa Municipala a Copilului (Childs Home) Visit in Chisinau: On October 14th, two FLEX alumni: Alexandr Hriptun08 and Dragalina Birsan10, together with PaperGirl Moldova (which is also FLEX alumni project) participant Dumitrita-Raluca

Parfenti joined the initiative of Connect Moldova Association (Community of Moldovans living in Italy) to visit one of the Chisinaus orphanages. A total of six volunteers brought some happiness to more than 40 children aged 2-7 who live in this orphanage. There was a clown, reciting poems, prizes, games with balloons and of course creative session, which is the trademark of PaperGirl with children. Children were painting leaves of different kinds and created the imprints of various colors on paper. Connect Moldova also prepared donation for the orphanage, and FLEX alumni greatly contributed to the cheerfulness and colorfulness of the event.

Halloween in Anenii Noi: October 26th was the day when Daniela Danuta12 together with 5 student council members of Mihai Eminescu lyceum of Anenii Noi organized a very colorful Halloween Party, which included costumes, dancing, different contests, etc. Around 40 students from grades 9-12 attended this event. A day earlier, on 25th Daniela, Peace Corps Volunteers and other 10 volunteers organized a workshop for 20 children, during which they carved around 40 pumpkins donated by the mayor of Anenii Noi. Annual Alumni Congress in Chisinau: On the 28th of October ten FLEX alumni, among two hundred other U.S. exchange programs alumni, attended and actively participated in Alumni Congress which took place in Leogrand Hotel in Chisinau. The congress was called "U.S. Alumni for E-transformations" and it included a series of workshops on e-transformations in governance, education, business, media and culture, and FLEX alumni together with their fellows shared their ideas on these topics. The event was organized Creative Development Association in cooperation with U.S. Embassy to Moldova. Leadership Training in Anenii Noi: October 30th-31st Ana Indoitu11 (city representative for Tintareni) together with Daniela Danuta12 organized a two-day leadership training for high school students of Anenii Noi District, which took place in Mihai Eminescu Lyceum of Anenii Noi. Together with District Student Council, PeaceCorps and GLOW/TOBE Moldova they organized workshop with the logo Hai sa fii BEST(Come to be the BEST) . The goal of the workshop was to train over 30 students with age between 14 and 17 about personal development. On the first day the training was about Self-knowledge and confidence and on the second the topic was Leadership and Community Participation. On the second day participants had the privilege to meet two real leaders from Anenii Noi community: Simonov Vera, head of the Department of Education and Bogovic Olga, the vice-president of Anenii Noi District Council. There were 35 partcipants from all the Local Student Councils from Anenii Noi who attended both trainings and received a certificate of participation. There is to be added that the workshop had a good support from the Department of Education of Anenii Noi. All the participants were active listeners and participants, some of them even taking the initiative to teach all the new material to their local mates. The workshop

was a success which asked for other good projects such as this in the future. An article about the seminar can be found via the link http://adevarul.pro/tineret/anenii-noi/424-tinerii-de-aziviitorul-de-miine.html PART B UPCOMING EVENTS November 11th City Representatives Training , American Councils Office, Chisinau, organizer Alexandr Hriptun08 November 14th Learn about USA during International Education Day, American Resource Center, Chisinau, organizer Maxim Grama12 November 21st Jeopardy Time Competition, American Resource Center, Chisinau, Organizer Alexandr Hriptun08 PART C - ALUMNI SUCCESSES Nata Andreev07 (Straseni) was a co-presenter (on-stage translator) at the charity concert organized by Hospice Angelus Moldova, a nonprofit organisation that offers palliative care to people that have incurable diseases. The concert took place on the 24th of October and was hosted by Alex Gurdila, Jurnal TV presenter and Nata was the translator. Famous artists also performed on stage: Pasha Parfeny, Eurovision 2012 participant, Cristofor Aldea-Teodorovici and his band, Elena Carafizi and Andrei Oncea and a Russian-Irish band "Kiss-U-Now". The link with the pictures http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=411305222268316&set=t. 606749598&type=3&theater and here is the link to the TV report http://www.jurnaltv.md/ro/news/caritate-pentru-bolnavii-de-cancer405793/# Valeria Bujac12 (Mereni) was elected the president of student council of her high school in Mereni. Tatiana Caraus11 (Drochia) participated in an exchange program for youth entitled "Democracy and human rights" which took place in Schwerin, Germany, September 27thOctober 7th. There were participants from four countries- Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Moldova. They were divided in four groups named conventionally "film", "theatre", "writing" and "art". Each team had to create a project, according to the group's name, through the mean of which could be promoted democracy among citizens. In one of the last days we all presented our projects and distributed brochures on one of the squares in Sch`werin. Besides working in teams they went on two meetings with the Mayor of Schwerin. The last evening was a cultural one- participants talked about their countries and served national meals.

Nicoleta Dvornicov11 (Calarasi) participated in European School for a Living Planet Academy, which was held in Illmitz, Austria during 22nd -27th of October. There were 66 participants (33 students and 33 teachers) from 9 different countries, including three groups from Moldova. Each group will organize an ecological project in their community till May, 2013. Prior to that she took part in the international project Empowering young people-Connecting Europe that was held in Constanta, Romania during 15th-17th of October. There were 4 teams of students and teachers from Moldova, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. The goal of the project is to engage each school in a project which they will organize in their school/community till May, 2013. Alexandr Hriptun08 (Tiraspol) took part at the training CREA(C)TION: Empowering young people through social and digital media use in youth work, organized by NGO Civic Engagement Movement. The training took place on 23-31st of October in Sovata, Romania and was organized within Youth in Action initiative of European Union and European Commission. Together with 18 participants from Serbia, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Macedonia Alexandr learned more about youth activism, volunteering, civic engagement, etc. as well as it was a great intercultural learning experience. Ana Indoitu11 (Tintareni) was selected as the participant of LeaderSHE project which is designed for young women willing to participate in community life and to contribute to the development of participative democracy. The project is organized with financial support of the U.S. Embassy to Moldova.

PART D - STATISTICS
Number of Events Number of Alumni Involved Names of Cities Involved Fundraising / Sponsorship (Who? What kind?) Partner Organizations Involved City Reps Who Led Events U.S. Government Alumni Involvement (From which Programs?) Use of American Corner/Center/Window Media Presence

6 26
Chisinau, Anenii Noi, Calarasi Connect Moldova (donations, supplies for the workshop), GLOW/TOBE (supplies for the seminar) Connect Moldova, GLOW/TOBE, PeaceCorps, Department of Education of Anenii Noi, Anenii Noi District Student Council Nicoleta Dvornicov11 (Calarasi), Ana Indoitu11 (Anenii Noi) n/a n/a Jurnal TV, adevarul.pro