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2013 EVALUATION growedu.ro

Raport anual grow 2013

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Raportul anual 2013 GROW – evaluare de impact

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2013 EVALUATION

growedu.ro

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4 7 9 10 11 14 16

17 18 20 22

Figures & Results

Participants

Trainer’s Profile

Learning Activities

Coordinators

Food for thought

Curriculum

Impact Report

Preparation Conferences

BRD & eMag

Media Impact

SUMMARY

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LONG-TERM VISIONGROW is a national youth development program designed by the School of Values in partnership with AIESEC to complement the formal education system. The program targets Romanian high school students (ages 14 to 18) and offers them a professionally formulated curriculum.

GROW has a unique approach to education summarized by the “practice, learn, step up” concept and distinguishes itself through:

• INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE: international students deliver workshops in English;

• NATIONWIDE PROGRAM: teenagers can easily access educational centers;

• PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM DESIGN: it incorporates training expertise, adolescent psychol-ogy, professional consulting and a thorough educational process;

• LONG-TERM APPROACH: GROW is not a summer camp or a weekend seminar, but a long-term unitary educational program (2010-2015). Over the course of 6 weeks, high school partici-pants attend 10 workshops, along with other educational experiences;

• EXPERTISE: Between 2005 and 2009, the School of Values and our partner, AIESEC, planned and implemented various projects.

All GROW editions have common features, such as:• TRAININGS ON PERSONAL VALUES: to help participants know themselves better;

• BASIC TO ADVANCED SKILLS: topics such as project management and career orientation or proactivity are approached with varying levels of difficulty for each high school grade;

• SELF-CONFIDENCE AND COURAGE: Grow participants consistently report improved self-confi-dence and greater courage to do more after attending the program;

• SENSE OF DIRECTION: many participants say GROW helped them choose what to do after high school. They finally answered the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question.

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2010 - 2013 FIGURES

19.132 applicants

14.500 accepted students

8.747 graduates

336 international trainers

134 project coordinators

214 high schools

10 editions

>1.000 volunteers

27 cities

>12.000 training hours

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2013 RESULTSpractic e lear n step up

16 cities

Arad, Brașov, București, Constanța, Cluj-Napoca,

Craiova, Iași, Galați, Oradea, Pitești, Sibiu, Suceava,

Târgu-Mureș, Timișoara, Curtea de Argeș, Râmnicu-Vâlcea

6.433 applicants

3.067 graduates

89 international

trainers

29 countries Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom,

Ukraine, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands, Canada, Poland, Letonia, Estonia, Vietnam, Brazil, Cameroon, Singapore, Turkey, Spain, Greece, USA,

Hungary, Macedonia, Tunis, Germany, Slovakia, Columbia, India

189 high schools

180 volunteers

(coordinators and their teams)

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For AIESEC Romania, the most beautiful thing in co-delivering the GROW program with School of Values is the common vision that both organizations share: shaping value-based behaviors in Romanian youth, behaviors that will furthermore lead to following their passion and dreams in their future careers too. Through this, we are expecting to create a critical mass of change agents that are willing to contribute towards add-ing positive impact in the society.

The concept of GROW is simple and attractive: bringing together motivated and self-driven Roma-nian high-school students and diverse students from all around the world in order to offer them a guideline for their desired direc-tion, in the context of internation-alism and non-formal education.

„Practice, Learn, Step Up” is the proposal of the project. Unlike the „usual” educational flow where theory comes first and practice comes afterwards, in Grow, the first stage engages students into an experiential learning process, where they can debate, share ideas and challenge their view, second one just provides a mixture of skills, knowledge and behaviours, in a curriculum that is complementary to the formal educational system. Through „step up”, students are encouraged to put in practice some of the skills and info they acquired in the first stages of Grow, therefore they can actually enhance creativity, entre-preneurial spirit and knowledge while organizing small projects that will prepare them for future activities, in the years to come.

All in all, GROW is about impact-ful experiences, experiences that manage to change mindsets, reshape perspectives and tem-pers. I have personally witnessed this change in the international trainers that came to Romania for this project and then stepped up for their true dreams, in the project coordinators that devel-oped themselves enormously and continued on this path of thirst for learning, in the participants that actually grew to become proactive students, AIESEC members, young but bold entrepreneurs, role-mod-els in their entourages. A single „thank you” coming from these individuals can warm up your soul more than any „typical” evaluation form.

Hereby lays my personal and professional satisfaction and the assurance that we are doing the right thing by delivering GROW to young students that will actually change something in Romania in the near future.

LUIZA MARCU, AIESEC Romania, VP Incoming Global Community

Development Program

. . .

In a worldwide education ranking developed by Pearson, Romania ranked 32nd of 40 developed countries, while Finland and South Korea had the best educa-tion systems in the world.

Romania ranked 45th of 65 countries in the PISA test, which evaluated the knowledge and skills of 15 year old teenagers.

Countries such as Slovenia, Hun-gary, and Serbia ranked higher than Romania.

Apparently, education is not a priority in Romania, the curricu-lum and the textbooks are old and outdated, teachers earn insufficiently. Also, the learning environment in many schools and high schools seems like 40 years ago. In this context, what does the future of our teenagers look like? How can they practice and learn? How can they step-up to become leaders, entrepreneurs, people of character who generate change?

Well, there is some good news.This year, people representing organizations from all around the world (Ukraine, Peru, China, Po-land) asked us about GROW; they have heard about it and wanted to know how it was implemented in Romania in order to implement something similar in their home countries. They wanted a Roma-nian project as an example for their countries!

GROW is made by Romanians, with Romanians and international volunteers, and for Romanian high school students. Around 9.000 teenagers from 28 cities in Romania practiced non-formal education and learned from it. And people from other countries consider that a success.

I want to thank all our partners, Romanian and international volunteers, teachers, and high schools that believe in us and support us.

ANDREEA DINU, GROW Project Manager

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WE SUPPORT GROW because it brings high school students face to face with important issues related to their personal development and it assists them in making one of the most important decisions for their professional careers: choosing the right university.

WE BELIEVE high school students need programs like GROW to discover their passions, strengths, and weaknesses, as these are key aspects to consider when choosing a study course.

IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT in which the demand for jobs and skills is constantly evolving (we cannot picture today the jobs of tomorrow), increasing workforce competitiveness begins in high school. At the same time, there is a lot of debate over the fea-tures of new generations (y and z) that tells us how important it is to combine “fun” with “work” and how critical is the early discovery of talents.

THEREFORE, NON-FORMAL EDUCATION programs like GROW are one of the medium and long-term solutions that can focus on all the aforementioned elements. Furthermore, because GROW is an innova-tive program in English and it employs unconvention-al methods to offer DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES, each edition receives a considerable number of applications, demonstrating its attractiveness among high school students. These are only some of the reasons our partnership with GROW is based on as we are rapidly heading towards the 4th year of cooperation. WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT GROW BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN THE POTENTIAL OF YOUNG PEOPLE.

Adela Jansen, HR Executive Director, BRD Groupe Societe Generale

CLOSE TO 1000 STUDENTS from all over the country played hopscotch, “hopping” from childhood toward adulthood. They learned to evaluate their potential and passions and realized how important it is to have a long-term strategy and to consider both market demands and other opportunities that appear along the way.

HOPSCOTCH TO SUCCESS was the 7th activity in a set of 10 trainings and was built on knowledge of self-awareness, team management, budgeting, proactivity and leadership that participants gained in the previous trainings. Confusion about the next steps and the stress of choice are probably the most difficult issues teenagers have to deal with, especial-ly when they generally perform well and they have theoretically unlimited options.

WE BELIEVE THIS ACTIVITY HELPED PARTICIPANTS understand how to handle this world of alternatives and how to better manage their evolution from ado-lescence to adulthood.

During the 2013 summer edition of GROW we delivered for the first time the "HOPSCOTCH TO SUCCESS" training designed together with the eMAG Foundation.

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Hello, my name is Mădă and I’m here to find my own answers to the right questions”.

This was the introduction to my very first GROW presentation, which I gave as a high school fresh-man at the first edition of GROW. I was lucky enough to take part in GROW events all through high school and, with each event, I grew as a person.

I learned that there’s a solution to every problem and that breaking your limits is easier than it seems. I learned to share, to help and to become involved. I learned to stand up for what I believe in and to always pursue my goals. Therefore, whether I do it in Por-tuguese, Indian, Czech or Chinese (only a handful of languages I’ve practiced at these events), I can only say “Thank you GROW” for all that I’ve learned during these three years.

GROW has us practice, learn, step-up while having fun. It teaches us how to create new things based on our ideas. It shows us how we can become more effective at what we do and why it’s important that we do so relying on our own strengths. GROW is not just an event for teenagers; it’s where new projects, ideas and friend-ships begin.”

Mădălina Ion GROW Bucharest Graduate

First of all, GROW was the best experience of my life. At the beginning I didn’t even want to go, because I was saying: “I don’t have time”, as you often do. But I decided to try because I had nothing to lose. We were all shy and fearful at the first session, but our trainer, Rafael, helped us overcome that moment. Rafael is a young Brazilian, who is just 21 years old and he gave us a new perspec-tive on things.

The sessions were about various topics, for example feedback, self awareness, envi-ronment or discrimi-nation. From each one we gained something useful. Beside the fact that we learned a lot of new things, we now know how to apply them. On the other side, we had a lot of fun... we learned

Brazilian dances and more about their culture. It’s true that we learned a bunch of new things, but in the

same time we made a lot of good friends. Now we are like one big family.

So I recommend it to everyone, I am sure

that after a GROW experience you will be able to say that

you are a better person.

Alexandra Stan GROW Pitești Graduate

PARTICIPANTS’ TESTIMONIALS

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we need strong

YOUNGSTERS!• Young people who find ROLE MODELS outside family prove to be

much stronger and undaunted than their peers.• Young people who are exposed to ENTREPRENEURSHIP since early

childhood seem to achieve more, in a natural way.• Young people who invest in KNOWLEDGE and dreams are

more resolute.• Young people who are encouraged to LEARN FROM FAILURE are

stronger than those who are punished for their lack of success.• Young people who have the COURAGE to express opinions seem to

advance much quicker.

These attributes of a strong young individual are also the five areas GROW focuses on: self-esteem, sense of direction, self-awareness, exposure to role models and information availability.

Moreover, teenagers are gradually encouraged throughout the pro-gram to leave their comfort zone; they are encouraged to rehearse (Practice), to master (Learn) and to dare (Step Up).

PARTICIPANT'S

• very good English

• willing to learn more than what school is offering

• fast learner, open to change

• open-minded

• medium to high personal effectiveness

• busy schedule

• extra curricular activities

• medium to high grades in school

• entrepreneurial spirit

• inclined to follow their passions

profile

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PREPARATION CONFERENCES

TRAIN THE TRAINERSTrain the Trainers is a preparation conference for GROW trainers, where local project managers, international trainers, and School of Values and AIESEC members DISCUSS THE CURRICULUM, how trainings align to delivery standards, and ways to IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT.

Train the Trainers is also A MOTIVATIONAL CONFERENCE: exposure to many internationals, participant support for the project objectives, strong common values and goals, shared by everyone involved.

THE INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS included in the project in 2013 came from 29 countries: Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands, Canada, Poland, Leto-nia, Estonia, Vietnam, Brazil, Cameroon, Singapore, Turkey, Spain, Greece, USA, Hungary, Macedonia, Tunis, Germany, Slovakia, Columbia, India.

TRAIN THE COORDINATORSTrain the Coordinators is a preparation conference for local project man-agers during which THE PROJECT VISION is discussed and shared. Also, everybody has the opportunity to create action plans, brain storm and align strategies. Finally, all the PROJECT DETAILS are defined for smooth implementation.

DURING THE CONFERENCE, local project managers who have already im-plemented the project get to know each other and share experiences with future local project managers. They also meet the international trainers.

Two TTT and TTC conferences were organised in Predeal in 2013: one from January 28 to February 2 (over 100 participants) and the other from June 10 to June 14 (over 120 participants).

Gabriele Zannata

Joy Cui Jawwad Aziz

Leslie Chen

Rafael Siervi

Elizabeth Boyd Elina Boichuck

Iris Chen

Alexander Branghini Anna Ao

Julio Silva

Mudassir Sheikh

Lin Bo

Yagmur Ekim

Anastasia Karouti Angelica Mendes

Beryl Liu Darma Putra

Idris Bangnam Iga Bagus Vardana Ha Hoang

Justin Hsiao Kerttu Sepp

Olha Grabchuk Patrick Garcia Luo Bin

Zhao James

<<trainers

0.9 1.0

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Short, but intense. Seriously funny. Tiring, but fulfilling. Confusedly organised. Full of brand new best friends. These expressions are exactly what the Grow Project was for me; paradoxes that make sense only when put together. I personally consider Grow the perfect concept of non-formal education which gathers teens who are willing to take responsibility for their future as they are getting to understand that life isn’t all beer and skittles.

Reflecting back on my Romanian expe-rience, Grow Project was ripe with unfor-gettable experiences, funny situations and warm-hearted people who made the time back there mesmerizing. I strongly believe that this project is going to have a long-last-ing tradition and thus many more teens from upcoming editions in Romania will have a chance to experience for themselves what it means to GROW.

Barbora Michnova Slovakian trainer in Craiova

Gabriele Zannata

Joy Cui Jawwad Aziz

Leslie Chen

Rafael Siervi

Elizabeth Boyd Elina Boichuck

Iris Chen

Alexander Branghini Anna Ao

Julio Silva

Mudassir Sheikh

Lin Bo

Yagmur Ekim

Anastasia Karouti Angelica Mendes

Beryl Liu Darma Putra

Idris Bangnam Iga Bagus Vardana Ha Hoang

Justin Hsiao Kerttu Sepp

Olha Grabchuk Patrick Garcia Luo Bin

Zhao James

<<trainers

0.9 1.0

TRAINER'S• fluent in English

• experience in working with young people

• training skills

• proactivity and passion for education

• willingness to develop personally and professionally

• ready to have an impact in society

• able to create a learning and development environment

profile

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Milica Peeva

Basmah Elahi

Ejaz Arif Dámaris Velázquez

Ho TszYau

Keila Tamires Martins

Martina Kaclikova

Barbora Michnová

Luk Wing Shan

Au Hiu Ming Stefanie

Choi Yan Wing

Li Cheuk Pan

Aakash Prabhakar

Lola Dzhumabaeva

Angelika Popyk

Geraldo de Sousa Jr.

Lam Chi Ho

John Aguilar Ho Wing Li

Koen Joseph Theodorus

Li Xuena

Adam Featherstone

Lin Yu-Cheng

Agnieszka Celina

Luis Alberto Bautista

Anna Bartfai

Luis Almanza

Ashaa Naveed

Muhammad Jaliawala

Blanka Zaja

Ng Ka Man Carmen

Cheung Mung Shan

Mirella Petikidi

Benjamin Fries

Han Qi Hassan Agha Mustafa

Lenka Merencikova

Jose Manuel Martinez

Leung Fungyee

Julia Jing-Ou Tan Hristina Aslimoska

Kristine Ivasko

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Rabia Kazmi Poon Tsun Hong Pablo Cabrera Moreno

Raymundo Merino Renhui Jiang Roberto Castillo

Wong Hoi Yan Wing Yu Chia Wan Yin Chan

Selina Botescu

Tetiana Vorobiova

Siddiqui Hassan Sultan Ali Bajwa

Tse Ka Yu Tughral Raza Memon

Xiaobo Lu

Together with my dear co-trainer Damaris Velazquez from Mexico, we took the chal-lenge to prepare and give trainings to these students. We aimed to involve them in our sessions, to get them excited about the top-ics we discussed, to share our cultures, and to inspire them in one way or another.

During the time we spent together, I was happy to find out that the students had a very good level of English, were proactive and were gradually participating in the discussions and activities we proposed. In addition to that, I noticed a great sense of humor and a sincere interest in other cultures and languages.

Consequently, the overall output was a positive one: GROW is a project that approaches the education of students in a different, yet very valuable manner. Chatting with our students, we were glad to find out that they liked to be taught in an unconventional way knowledge they would use further in life. All in all, with some logistical and organizational points left for improvement, I would highly recommend this project as a perfect way to spend time in a foreign country, sharing cultures, knowledge and experiences.

Having applied for the GROW project with the ambition to develop myself and others, I explored a beautiful country, met friendly people and got closer to speaking Roma-nian. But most importantly I had FUN with everyone involved, learning lessons of life. A fost o experiență frumoasă!

Selina Botescu Dutch trainer in Bucharest

< trainers1.1 - 1.2

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BEING A COORDINATOR (OCP) IS NO EASY JOB;

I knew that thanks to a project I had coordi-nated before in another NGO. So, due to this unpleasant experience, I chose to avoid any-thing similar for a long while in AIESEC. GROW seemed like a pretty big thing and as I was rejected from being an OC in GROW when I entered the organization, I did not really think I could do it.

I CHOSE TO APPLY nevertheless because I plan to be a trainer and I know that teaching someone about something I had never done (such as team or project management) would be extremely stupid. So I thought about learning the hard way exactly through the project I feared most.

I did not really know what I had gotten myself into until the conference in Bucharest, when I realized there was a lot to do, there were a lot of expectations and also a lot of results my work could bring. So, I went home and did my best, starting with choosing my team.

MY TEAM was great and I could not have been luckier; they were all newbies, highly motivated and talented and they made my job very easy as I hardly had to tell them what to do. There were no major conflicts, no fights, very little panic. The trainees made me feel even luckier: they were smart, independent, dedicated to their work and made me feel a little useless at times as they did most things on their own; they really bonded, communicated daily and still are a team even if the project ended some time ago. And the students were the most pleasant surprise; seeing them, I knew what I was working for and I could see them growing, enjoying themselves and feeling good.

THE PROJECT was especially challenging for me because I am very introverted and would like to spend the whole week reading with a cup of coffee in my hand, instead of running around the city, trying to convince principals to approve the project and doing 10-12 class shouts per day. But I did it because my team made me get up in the morning even without knowing it. And I thank them for that. Seeing the results, it is hard for me to imagine I was part of it.

NOW I FEEL WISER, more confident and more experienced in talking in front of a crowd. And I am happy to have been part of it all.

Ana Maria Bujor GROW 0.9-1.0 Coordinator in Cluj

I WANT TO SAY that this was the most impactful experience I’ve ever had in the volunteering field. Coordinating a team of four AIESECers, eight international trainers and more than 300 high school students gave me lots of challenges to overcome and lots of situations to face.

MORE THAN THIS, I saw the whole picture of a project for the first time. I think an experience like this can develop you unbelievably! And I don’t want to miss the fun part either; this environment is very dynamic and full of nice, and some-times random events.

NOW I HAVE a lot of stories to tell and a huge pack of knowledge and experiences!

Matei Popilian GROW 1.1-1.2

Coordinator in Bucharest

• young AIESEC volunteer

• between 18 and 23 years

• open, curious and proactive

• interested in solving society’s issues through education

• willing to manage GROW in his/her city together with a team of 3-8 volunteers, for a period of 4 months

profileCOORDINATOR'S

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Diana Maraloiu, Galati

David Iacob, Sibiu

Monica Gliga, Tg-Mures

Nicusor Firu, Craiova

Karinna Calin, Bucuresti

Matei Popilian, Buc.

Denisa Olteanu, Timisoara

Cristina Tambrea, Pitesti

Cristina Constantinescu, BV

Cosmin Varga, Galati

Ionut Voica, Pitesti

Madalina Cristea, CJ

Ana-Maria Bujor, CJ Brittany Hatthaway, OR

Alina Constantin, CT

Silviu Maior, Craiova

Omoreanu Alex, TM Teofana Murariu, Iasi

Ana-Maria Matei, CT

Alexandra Ciortan, SV

Andreea Sauciuc, Iasi

Alin Muresan, Tg-Mures

Cosmin Petrisor, Arad

Anca Lipan, Brasov

Elena Gales, Suceava

Iulian Anghel, C. de Arges

Elena Dumitrescu, Sibiu

Emilia Hanganut, Arad

<ocp0.9 1.0

>ocp1.11.2

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The first stages of Grow 0.9 put emphasis on communication and FEEDBACK SKILLS, sending appropriate messages, and the differences between constructive feedback and criticizing.

The following stages pay particular attention to con-cepts like DEBATE, sustainable behaviour, and eco-en-vironment creation. Next, participants learn to identify and become aware of their strengths and weaknesses, acquire basic PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS and recognize discrimination.

The closing sessions explore the rights and obligations of EU CITIZENS AND FINANCIAL EDUCATION.

The workshops are designed to instill in participants a “CAN-DO ATTITUDE” and help them identify the impor-tance of BEING PROACTIVE. Special attention is placed on helping participants prepare better presentations and appropriate messages for their audiences, on per-sonal EFFECTIVENESS and project management tools like the Management Table and the Gantt Chart.

VALUES are also a focal point of GROW 1.0: partici-pants learn to recognize environmental influences, to develop a clear and meaningful set of beliefs and prior-ities, to acknowledge Romanian and European values.

Basic theory of team management and basic leader-ship skills INSPIRE teenagers to “be the difference they want to see in the world”. They discover the importance of personal values and identify their mission and VISION in life, while becoming more aware of the op-portunities they have, offering basic career orientation.

Participants learn about BUSINESS management and basic business PLANNING, and also about the impor-tance of consistently, continuously and clearly commu-nicating one’s PERSONAL IDENTITY AND LIFE PLAN.

Opportunities, options, entrepreneurship, personal branding, goal setting are the defining keywords.Participants identify their TALENTS (vocational charac-teristics) for better career choices and realize how LIFE PURPOSES AND DREAMS are connected with personal VALUES. They are also provided with an over-view of Romania’s labor market and a few instruments for better career choices.

Finally, participants learn about ENTREPRENEURSHIP, INDEPENDENCE and the attitude of “building systems rather than following them”.CU

RR

ICU

LUM

GROW 0.9 focuses on

socialization, self-esteem

and com-munication

skills.

GROW 1.0 focuses on teamwork, organizing skills, and self-confi-

dence.

GROW 1.1 focuses on

self-awareness and develop-ing manage-ment skills.

GROW 1.2 focuses

on career orientation

and some presentation

skills.

17

Health

self este

em

sens

e of

dire

ctio

n s

elf awareness expose to role models inform

ation at your fingertip

IN ADDITION TO TRAININGS, we provide activities based on non-formal education designed to ease interaction between partici-pants, and between participants and trainers. They also aim to increase the impact of the curriculum and to help teenagers take initia-tive by engaging in real action.

GROW INCLUDES ACTIVITIES SUCH AS:

• COMPANY VISITS: teenagers met and dis-cussed with employees and get a first impression of the companies (BRD and HP being national partners); they also visited local bread factories, hospitals, fire stations or sport companies;

• ORGANIZING ONE DAY EVENTS for other teenagers, families, their communities (cul-tural events, fairs, simulations, flash mobs);

• COOKING NIGHTS or cooking marathons;• MOVIE NIGHTS (movie marathons);• PLANTING trees, cleaning local public spaces;• TREASURE hunts;• VISITS AND TALKS about the importance of

Romanian historical areas.

All to practice, learn, step-up:

practic e lear n step up

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

19

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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impact measuring methodTo assess the impact of the pro-gram, we used information provided online by participants in the First and Final Evaluation Forms. Only data from participants who filled in both forms was used to examine the consistency and changes in answers before and after the project.

Both forms incorporated the same questions divided into 5 groups. Each group investigated a different area of personal development (the five pillars of “Internal Structure”): self-esteem, sense of direction, self-awareness, exposure to role models, and information availability.

Both evaluation forms employed three methods of data collection: open questions (exposure to role models), polar questions (sense of direction), and statements (self-es-teem, self-awareness, information availability). Each statement had five possible answers (always, usual-ly, sometimes, rarely, and never) and respondents had to choose the one which best described them.

Approximately 600 students (20% of participants) filled in our questionnaires.

IMPACT REPORT The main goal of this report is to assess the impact of GROW 2013 editions on its participants

I KNOW WHAT I AM GOOD AT AND WHAT IS DIFFICULT FOR ME.Compared to previous years, the number of participants who always know what they are good at and what is difficult for them has increased by 35%, while the number of those who only sometimes know what they are good at has decreased by 22%.

I FEEL COMFORTABLE TRYING NEW THINGS.21% more participants always feel comfortable trying new things, while those who only sometimes feel comfortable trying new things decreased by 10%.

I KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR THE INFORMATION I NEED.There are around 17% more participants who believe that they always know where to look for the information they need, while 15% of those who sometimes knew where to look for information now state that they usually know where to search for it.

I HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO PLAN MY CAREER.Significant development is visible in terms of sense of direction: after attending GROW, 31% more participants think they took a nother step in planning their careers.

Do you think one/more people involved in GROW could be your role model(s)?

Yes, I do. Each one of the people involved in GROW had proved that everything is possible with some hard work

and dedication. I had so much to learn from my trainer, he is extraordinary. He is so involved in everything he’s doing, and he

does it with a BIG smile on his face. I respect and appreciate him be-cause I noticed that he always tries to be better, to make a difference.

Paula Carp, Iași

Actually I think that my trainers could be role models for me because they taught me a lot of things and I just loved what

they did. I saw their work and in a few years I want to do the same thing, be a trainer, be part of something really great and

inspire other people. Right now I know exactly what my values are and I know that I should try to do my best because everything is possible if you work for it!

Alexandra Iordache, Bucharest

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FINAL CONCLUSIONSTHIS ANALYSIS CLEARLY ILLUSTRATES SEVERAL POINTS:

GROW participants improved their SENSE OF DIRECTION and are better prepared to make decisions about their future.

GROW motivates participants and this is particularly visible in their answers related to self-esteem or the ROLE-MODELS they’ve met during the project.

Participants experience increased levels of SELF-ESTEEM and SELF-AWARENESS after attending the program. Most of them know what they are good or not so good at, learn from their mistakes and are generally comfortable with trying new things.

GROW refines the participants’ ability to identify INFORMATION SOURCES, as shown by answers to the “I know where to look for the information I need” question.

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MEDIA IMPACT• 2.920 posters and 33.665 flyers• Over 100 online articles, over 30 press releases, 5 TV shows

(Digi 24 Iași, Digi 24 Timișoara, Digi 24 Cluj, TVR 1, TVR Internațional)

• Media Partners: România Pozitivă, Ziare.com, Calendar Evenimente, Evenimentul Zilei, România Liberă, Teen Press, Hipo, Buzz Camp, TVR 1.

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AIESEC is the biggest student-run interna-tional organization striving to transform its members into positive change agents in a global society.

IN ROMANIA, AIESEC has been actively involved in the education of young people for almost 20 years.

AIESEC is now present in 40 UNIVERSITIES and 15 cities around the country: Arad, București, Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Constanța, Craiova, Galați, Iași, Pitești, Ploiești, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Timișoara, Târ-gu-Mureș, it has over 300 local partners and has developed over 60 PROJECTS.

aiesec.ro

THE SCHOOL OF VALUES is a modern NGO whose vision is to contribute to the development of a value-based society by providing innovative education.

The School of Values’ MISSION is to question the boundaries of traditional education and to offer opportunities to access valuable information and interact with positive role models, personal development experiences, and international exposure.

WE WISH TO INCREASE personal responsi-bility and individual control of personal choices. Our values reflect our effort to trans- form vision into reality.

scoaladevalori.ro

ORGANISERS

Each edition, GROW has an unique flyer which can be folded into a small figure, as pictured above.Following the path of the amazing Origami art, GROW tries to provide teens with the proper environment and skills to discover their inner strengths and better shape things to come… using tools inside the box, but thinking outside it. A nationwide program, with international trainers, cool trainings and outside class activities to help them gain experience.

Long story short, GROW is delivering know-how!