We conducted the first educational workshop in a cycle of three workshops in high schools, as part of the project “VOLUNTEER FOR NATURE, VOLUNTEER FOR YOURSELF!” on the topic of Volunteering and civil society. It was held on Thursday, March 8, 2018 at the Craft and Technical School in Split. The workshop was held from 09:00 to 13:00 under the leadership of the League for the Prevention of Addiction – Duška Milinković, Josipa Ursić and Paula Srdanović, and also Association Sunce – Miranda Šimac and Marin Spetič. With the cooperation and presence of 18 wonderful and approachable students, we bring you a touch of the atmosphere there.
In order to get to know each other better, we started our socializing with an interactive game of presentation through pieces of paper. Everyone presented themselves through a different number of pieces of paper and shared some interesting things with the group – which will be used in their further work. In order not to leave everything to informal socializing, we decided to establish a joint work agreement that we will adhere to in the future. According to the agreement, we needed cooperation, relaxation and mutual tolerance… The students communicated their expectations, but also what they themselves will contribute to the workshops. On the printed “stickers” we noticed that we are all ready for good fun, new acquaintances and cooperation, which is most important in this type of group work – we commented on notes about volunteering , but also elaborated with discussions. Some of the claims we commented on were “Volunteers are tolerant and respectful of differences” or “It is better to lie in vain than to work in vain.”
In order not to fall asleep, Josipa raised us to our feet with the game “Dragon, Grandma and Samurai”. Divided into teams, we had a good laugh and repeated once again how important harmony in the group is. This was emphasized by the students themselves after 3 consecutive rounds in which we did not have a winner because they were all equal but also winners. We continued the team work through the silhouette of a man who had everything a real volunteer needs – opinions, feelings, but also how he works and moves. Our volunteer strives for change, open and ready to help. He feels love and peace and the need to help others. And, he achieves all that through team work, driven by the desire and will for a better future.
After working on team spirit, we moved on to the theory and the very presentation on “What exactly is volunteering?” Presented by Josipa and Duška, we learned what public advocacy is and how we can use it, what associations and civil society are, what rights and obligations a volunteer has and much more. We finally tested our attentive listening through the Kahoot quiz – which the students really liked because the results are anonymously transmitted on the screen using an Internet application. At the end, we listened to the students about how they liked the workshop and they emphasized – good food, drinks, fun, but also acquired new and interesting knowledge.
Judging by the first workshop, future activities will be full of energy and willingness to work, with good fun, of course!
Author of the text and photo: Paula Srdanović (volunteer communicator)