Zlatarski International School – Sofia

На 04.06.2012 г. в Международна гимназия Златарски се проведе 6-ти училищен форум на Европейския младежки парламент, с който по традиция всяка година отбелязваме Деня на Европа. Участниците във форума се научават да дискутират теми по актуални проблеми на ЕС. В заключителния етап на сесията – Общото събрание, участниците представят, атакуват и гласуват подготвените от тях резолюции по предварително избрани теми. Във форума тази година взеха участие 55 ученици от 8 до 11 клас. Генералното събрание започна традиционно с химна на Европейския съюз и националния химн на Република България. Делегатите, разпределени в 6 комисии, предложиха резолюции по следните теми:

Committee on Copyright Protection: For or against ACTA and SOPA?
(Иван Димитров – chair, Петър Димитров – co-chair)

Committee on Environment Protection and Energy Sources: Can nuclear energy help to solve the global problem with climate change?
(Мила Зографова – chair, Габриела Тодорова – co-chair)

Committee on Economic Development: The Wishes of the 99%- are they rational and can they become true?
(Цветелина Иванова – chair, Мария Москова – co-chair)

Committee on Culture and Social Relationships: Is globalization a cultural threat to European countries?
(Стоян Шукеров – chair, Мина Нешева – co-chair)

Committee on Peace and Security: The Cyprus Problem
(Димитър Калоянов – chair, Боян Динев co-chair)

Committee on Social Affairs: The Employment Discrimination Issue
(Кристина Бъзовска – chair, София Карабоикова – co-chair)

Някои от предложените резолюции получиха одобрението на Общото събрание и събраха необходимия брой гласове, други не успяха да убедят делегатите, че предложените решения са добре обосновани и не минаха при гласуването.

Важен беше духът на конференцията. Младите хора показаха своята съпричасност към проблемите на съвременния свят и желание заедно да търсят решение за тях, защото от това зависи и тяхното бъдеще.

Събитието отрази: г-жа Снежана Зорова, преподавател по английски език в Международна гимназия Златарски.

My class, 9^c from Zlatarski International School, decided to contribute to this as we strongly wish to leave a print in Bulgarian’s cultural heritage. We wanted to “adopt” a book, to restore it in relation to the upcoming 24^th of May. But how are we supposed to raise money? That was the question. We did a lot of thinking and finally we found a perfect solution, which we called “Bake Sale”. Each and every one of us prepared a sweet dish with love, which the whole school could enjoy. We divided the tasks, some of my classmates brought balloons, plates and utensils. Before the event we went through all the other classrooms to invite students and teachers to our charity “Bake Sale”. We managed to inspire the whole school to help us with our cause. The “Bake Sale” took place on Thursday during the second big break. We took five tables out of our room and put them in the hallway so we could arrange the tasty treats we had made at home. There were both sweet and salty homemade goodies on display. When the bell rung for the break everyone hurried so they can be first at our sale. During these exciting twenty minutes we proudly managed to gather 400lv. We rejoiced success.

Our class teacher Vania Angelova went to the National Library “St. st. Cyril and Methodius” and inquired what edition the money might be used for. On 31^ST May our whole class went to the library, where we were warmly welcomed. It was an interesting experience for us because most of us had not been there before. We wanted to absorb every little detail and remember the magnificence of the place. With our first steps we felt the smell of hundreds of years of history and writings. We were led inside a conference room where we sat around an oval table and a really nice woman began to explain to us why the old manuscripts are damaged, and how we could contribute to their preservation. We learned that the money would be used for the restoration of the the “Tupan” newspaper, vital for the survival of the Bulgarian revolutionary alliance. It is sad that there are only few issues of this newspaper that have survived. Also we understood that there are quite a few “adopted” books by Bulgarians living abroad. It was nice to find out that we did something different and “adopted” a newspaper. We also saw some magnificent Bulgarian manuscripts, which were exhibited in the library. In addition, we learned that small things, even light can harm them, which means that history is that fragile. For all of us it was an experience to remember.

Schedule for the week 21-25 May 2012.

On 21 May classes will be held in the international programmes for grades 8-11 from 8 a.m. to 12:55 p.m.

22 May is a regular school day.

There will be no classes on 23 May due to the Bulgarian State Exam in English, taking place at the School.

24 and 25 May are days off.

Dear students, we expect you all back at school on 28 May.

Jordanka Dimova, Class of 2013 at Zlatarski International School, chosen to be the ACES Ambassador for the group of Bulgarian schools participating in the conference.

The conclusive meeting for the project Stop Missing Opportunities, the so called ACES Academy, was held from 27^th March till 30^th March 2012 nearby Bratislava. Participants from Zlatarski School were Anna Joukivskaia, coordinator of the project, and Jordanka Dimova, student in 11a grade, who took active participation in the successful realization of the activities related with this initiative. Over 300 teachers, students and official representatives of over 15 countries in Europe took part in ACES Academy 2012. The formal meeting was hardly accessible and the work – highly intensive. All participants, who had worked during these 6 months in cooperation with their partners, presented the results from their projects, discussed the challenges which had occurred during the project and told each other about the realized activities. The students were the  protagonists who presented the projects, which made the work very dynamic, spontaneous and creative.

Few NBs to be mentioned:

Jordanka Dimova, 11a grade, was officially chosen by the organizers as ACES Ambassador of the Bulgarian group of students and teachers at the conference (15 schools from Sofia, Varna, Gabrovo, Silistra, Goce Delchev, Stara Zagora, Omurtag, Plovdiv, Yurukovo, Chelopech, Blagoevgrad, Smolian, Vidin). This extremely prestigious title included the following: Jordanka took care of the Bulgarian officials in Bratislava – the Bulgarian Ambassador and the Principal of the Bulgarian school in Bratislava. Furthermore, the project Stop Missing Opportunities was officially represented by Jordanka in front of the Ambassador and the Principal of the school.

Jordanka applied for the position of Student Valedictorian and reached the final along with a student from Romania, who in the end won this title. The organizers promised that Jordanka’s speech will be posted on the official ACES page, as well as the organization’s facebook page.

All teachers and students from the different countries prepared presentations on the projects during the conference. Together with our Montenegrin partners our representatives prepared poster-presentations, using photos, which illustrated different activities, brochures, hand-made materials, (for us these were the different martenitzi, which were the core of the project, as well as photographs from the charity exhibition of Zlatarski School’s students, posters, Newsletters etc. Jordanka and Pavle (the student from Bar) presented the project in 3 minutes in front of a big audience of participants and a jury. The representatives of the jury had to choose the most innovative project.

The project Stop Missing Opportunities, supported by ACES—Academy of Central European Schools, was initiated and successfully implemented by Zlatarski International School – Sofia and High School for Economics and Tourism, Bar, Monte Negro from September 2011 to March 2012. Selected students from both schools were the driving force for the implementation of the activities and had the chance to participate in various volunteer and charity events in their own countries and in the partner-country.

After the Bulgarian group of students and the coordinator of the project visited the partner school in Bar in December last year, it was their turn to visit Sofia in March. On the 1^st of March the students from Monte Negro and their hosts participated in the Matenitsi Art Workshop in Zlatarski International School. By uniting concentration and creativity they managed to create about one hundred martenitsi, part of which were given as gifts later the same day to the children from the Dragalevci home for orphans together with the gathered and bought toys from the initiative “Donate a toy”, which was implemented in school from November 2011 to February 2012. „The martenitsi you created and brought here made our children very happy. Thank you for the great presents”, said the Principal of the Dragalevci home for disadvantaged children, Mrs Sokolova. Our students and their guests spent about an hour in the home, where they played with the kids, sang songs with them and talked to them about different things.

On the 2^nd of March at 10am the participating group met in front of the Specialized Children’s Oncohaematological Hospital in Sofia. Together with a representative of Foundation Angelia, 3 students and 1 teacher met the children (access to them is limited) and put the martenitsi created by the whole project team on their hands with the wish for health and emotional strength. After this personal meeting, all participating students were invited in a study room where they were told about the painful reality these children and families are faced with. 370 BGN were officially donated by the students for buying medical supplies – lancets. The funds were collected through the charity exhibition organized in Zlatarski International School on the 14^th of February 2012 (refer to the news on the website). These funds will suffice for buying 7 boxes with 200 lancets for painless transplantation of peripheral blood for the needs of the children with oncohaematological illnesses. In the official “Thank You” letter to the students the Foundation Angelia team shared: „Thank you for the help and the invaluable support. We appreciate your gesture. You make the lives of these children happier.”

The last visit for the day was at the Foster Care Center (For Our Children Foundation), where the students were informed about the current policies related to the foster family systems, what challenges and problems people who want to become foster parents are faced with, how many children there are who successfully integrated in this type of care. More specifically we got more familiar with the “Children’s House” Project for children with severe disabilities, what is planned to happen in the near future and when the students will be able to take part in the repairing and refurbishing activities as volunteers. 320 BGN were officially donated in support of this project. „Be sure and proud of yourselves, that you, dear Zlatarski School students contributed for this we, from For Our Children Foundation, to feel your moral and material help for one of our most valuable projects, the creation of the Children’s House for children with severe disabilities. Your support for us equals a support for the children in need. We congratulate you that at this age you demonstrated power, decisiveness and character and you organized such a successful charity event”, said Ivanka Shalapatova, Director of For Our Children Foundation.

Students from Zlatarski International School organised a charity initiative, supporting the foundation “In Favour of Our Children”. On 2 February they managed to raise 320 BGN for the establishment of Children’s home for newborn children without a home and disabled children. The money was raised through the theatrical staging “Romeo and Juliette”, which was organised by the students themselves.

The students made lucky dips, which they gave out at the front of the staging before the performance to their classmates and teachers in exchange for a donation of 1 BGN or more.

“Good people and humanity do exist! More than wonderful is that we can find these qualities in the face of young people, who, on their behalf, form their earnest steps in life. Zlatarski School supports this initiative, but despite financial support, students wish to enrol in voluntary activities, such as the building and the repair of the house” – says the psychologist of the school Anna Jukivskaya.

On 14 February Victoria Kovacheva (12a), Veronica Bezinsky (12IB c), Elena-Avrora Kutevska (12IB c) and Petya Dimitrova (10b) united creative talent in organising a photographic exhibition for charity. By selling their pictures with romantic messages on St. Valentines Day they raised more than 370 BGN for the purchase of automatic surgeon knifes for painless blood taking at the Hospital for Active Treatment of Children with Oncohematological Disease.
370 Bulgarian Levs will be enough for the purchase of 7 boxes with 200 surgeon knifes in each box, which will vastly help reduce the pain of children with oncohematological disease. The money will be donated on 2 March, when 5 students from Zlatarski School will visit the children from the ward for oncohematological treatment, giving away “martenitsi” for the Bulgarian celebration of Baba Marta.

These “martenitsi” will be made on 1 March together with our guests from the High School of Tourism and Economics in Bar, Montenegro. Everyone is welcome to participate in the initiative!

Dear parents, we kindly remind you to check the marks and attendances of your children in the electronic gradebook on the website of the School.