Empower Students through Leadership Training

After the start of the SL program in October, the student leaders started preparing for implementation of the projects they had set themselves as a goal. They participated in regular online meetings with their mentors - the Coordinators of the SL program Villi - Ann Doneva and Bilyana Bagryanova. They received guidance on issues that arose and brainstormed options for solving them.

At the same time and during all four tournaments (Fall - West and East and Spring - West and East) student leaders had a main role in their teams mentoring and supporting their fellows and providing them with valuable advice during the events. They have also invested a lot of effort in the organisation of their teams prior to the tournaments helping with many administrative tasks and communicating with the BEST Management Team. During the opening ceremonies student leaders performed creative and fun speeches which were highly enjoyed by all participants. Student leaders managed to create a sense of team spirit and enthusiasm in their schools and even recruited new students who joined the BEST community.

They created and displayed posters that featured the competitors from their schools. The posters were hung in the corridors of schools and were an attraction and entertainment for all participants. 

Community Projects Progress

At the moment student leaders are finalising the work on their community projects and the results will be presented during the SL Wrap Up Seminar in Sofia on the 29th of April. 

For the most curious of you, here are some of the projects which will be presented at the end of April and will be competing for the Awards which we have prepared:

1/ Student Union (Team Gotse Delchev)

The main purpose of this Student Union is to help children. They plan to do visitations at the local orphanage, helping the orphanage with donations and organizing, relative to personal interest, games at local high schools. This project seeks to bring encouragement and a feeling of meaning and hope for children that are in disadvantaged positions and who have lost, for whatever reason, it may be, the original drive they possessed to work towards their dreams.

2/ A free day in the mountains for kids (Team SELS Sofia)

The aim of the project is for kids to spend more time outside and learn that nature has so much to offer and gain some useful survival skills.  The project was successfully executed in Vitosha Mountain with the help of The Central Youth Club of Bulgarian Scouts. It involved elementary school students who spent a day in the woods having fun and learning about nature.

3/ Talent Show with a cause (Team Montana) 

The idea of the project was to organize a talent show which was a platform for talented young artists, actors, and musicians to showcase their talent. The main goal was to focus on getting the local community together, having a fun time, and doing something good. The cause of the project was to raise money for prematurely born babies. 

and many more…

Wrap Up Seminar coming soon

The semester will end with the Wrap Up Seminar which will be held in hotel Shipka, Sofia, on the 29th of April 2023. This is the time when Student Leaders will present their Community Projects. The project results will be discussed and Management Team members will provide them with valuable feedback and assess the quality of the projects. 

All of the teams were working very hard and showed a high level of commitment to their local community during the Spring semester. Through their projects student leaders created connections between students (BEST and non BEST) and the local community and built a culture of support and engagement. After being involved with the Community Projects the adults (members of the NGOs, local businesses, municipality administration representatives) were more engaged and had better understanding of the problems and interests of youth. The projects established a “Can do” attitude among youth.

Judging from the feedback that student leaders provided we can conclude that this has been an amazing year for them and they gained useful skills that they can apply later at work or university. On the personal level, they managed to create solid friendships and learned more about themselves, supported their team mates in school and even recruited new students who joined the BEST community.

We can not wait for the amazing Project presentations at the end of April!
Thank you for your continued support!