Exchange – Skopje
DAY 1 The first exchange of the Superschools program organized by the Regional Youth Cooperation Office – RYCO has started!
The students from Private High School Algoritam , Skopje and the students from Gimnazija Smart had the first meeting on the premises of Private High School Algoritam. We broke the ice with Dejan Stankoski through playing fun group icebreaker games and presenting both cultures. 12 students from Novi Sad with their teachersSanja Đukić and Jelena Bojanić will be our guests this week.
We continued the day with a natural sciences workshop. Our chemistry teacher, Nena Milkoski explained the steps we need to take in order to make soap. The students worked in groups and used molds to create different types of soap that will later be decorated and donated. We eagerly wait to see the final results. We finished the day with a walk through the City Park and the center of the city.
DAY 2 The students from Skopje and the students from Novi Sad have already become friends and they had even more fun on their second day together. The students with the teachers Pavle Janakievski and Ana Pejovska debated on stereotypes, exercised critical thinking skills, and through a series of fun group activities drew conclusions about the way we should resolve conflicts and build peaceful co-existence. The students also visited the memorial house of Mother Theresa where they wrote clear messages of peace on the whiteboard. The second museum visit was to the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle where they discussed the common past of our two countries.
DAY 3 We spent the day with an educational excursion through the city of Skopje. We started with a walking tour with a tour guide who showed us the hidden parts of the Old Bazaar. Then we visited the grave of Goce Delchev at the Sv. Spas church. The road took us to the Kale Fortress where we talked about history and the modern architecture of the city of Skopje. The students from Novi Sad were inspired by the natural beauty of Matka, and we ended the day with the wonderful panoramic view from the Millenium Cross at Mt. Vodno.
DAY 4 Throughout the fourth day of the exchange, the students from Novi Sad and Skopje had a cyber bullying workshop. We also had third year students join the workshop and helped everyone discuss the topic that is very important for their age. The day continued with a creative workshop where they were decorating soaps. We ended the day with a theatre play “Siledzija” (Bully) which was shown as the end of the cyberbullying workshop.
DAY 5 We spent the last day of the exchange with the students from Novi Sad and Skopje out in the open in the Skopje City Park with representatives from Europe House, GoGreen, The Red Cross, and the Coalition Menuvame. We had a lot of fun activities and music.
Throughout the day, first and second year students, together with the students from Novi Sad had the opportunity to participate in different sports. Guests to the event were The Red Cross, who held first aid workshops and to whom we donated the soaps the students made during the exchange. We also held multiple eco activities and presentations by GoGreen in collaboration with Europe House.
At the end we signed a Memorandum of Collaboration as an introduction to the second part of the exchange where we will work on creating a website to help everyone learn sign language and Braille. We would like to thank all of the present organizations as well as the students from Novi Sad with whom we spent a lovely week.
