A Big Day for the Third Graders from the Open Future: They Presented their Social Innovations at the Expo

“Philanthropy is about helping. Someone can contribute to charity or volunteer. We were tasked with presenting philanthropy to young people directly at school,” explained Tereza from the Trnava club about her team’s project, adding: “We created two model lessons for the elementary and middle school pupils. For the younger ones, we prepared mainly playful activities like memory games. The program would be conducted during religion, ethics, or art classes, and for the middle schoolers, we included civics education. For example, the older students were asked to imagine what it would be like if Ľudovít Štúr was a philanthropist.” 

Other teams proposed organizing a knowledge quiz as part of the electric formula race, as well as a project to revitalize the kindergarten area in Zvolen. They consulted directly with the Zvolen town hall about planting greenery and changes in the school yard. 

Children Worked on the Innovations under the Guidance of Mentors from Business or Local Government

Lucia Gregorová, the team leader of the Open Future program, emphasized that the children look forward to and purposefully prepare for the Expo every year: “At the Expo, children present their project work, which is a culmination of their year-long efforts. We strive to invite everyone involved in the program to the event, whether they are parents, teachers, school principals, donors, program supporters, or our expert guarantors. It is an important event for the children. They get to experience what it is like to present and speak in front of an audience.” 

This time, we decided to approach the projects with an Open mind. Our children prepared their mini social innovations directly with people from business or local government. They became their mentors and provided help throughout the entire preparation process. 

In their stands, third-graders presented their own mini social innovations, one of which was a model of an eco-bot that collects and separates waste.

The quiz project as part of the electric formula race was overseen by partners from the Greenpower organization, represented at the Expo by Martin Knotek: “The team handled our task quite well. The goal was to prepare an interesting quiz for the contestants. We gave the children basic questions about how it should look to be attractive. It seems that we will continue to collaborate. They will come to assist us at the races, for example, with measuring and evaluating results.” 

Parents: The Program Broadens Children’s Horizons and Is Beneficial for Them  

In the Open Future extracurricular program, we develop not only entrepreneurial, digital, and soft skills of the children but also lead them to notice their surroundings, think differently about the world, not be afraid to actively approach these situations, and come up with solutions. Parents are also happy with the club activities. 

Miroslava Siváčková from Trnava admitted that the Open Future program was a great benefit for her daughter Tereza: “My daughter completely changed her behavior, started to take an interest in things she hadn’t before. Sometimes these were topics we also had trouble understanding, so we had to learn along with her.” According to her mother, the extracurricular education broadened Terezka’s horizons. “It really moved her forward. She started to think about topics she didn’t even know needed thinking about before. She always tells me what they did, presents everything to me, looks forward to events, and talks about her experiences. It’s beneficial for us too.” 

At the end of the program, we handed certificates to the graduating third graders for completing the entire three-year cycle. We also awarded the volunteers who help us organize activities in the Open Future. We thank everyone who contributed this year for their cooperation and look forward to the next year. 

The Open Future EXPO 2024 also included a creative workshop where children created and sold their own products for our guests.