Educational project “Journalists of the Future”
In October 2022, in cooperation with Little Odysseus, a new project format called “Journalists of the Future” for school children was launched. The result of this initiative is our newspaper which allows children to feel like real journalists: they conduct interviews, write and edit press releases, draw, photograph and shoot videos, presenting themselves as role models and influencers. The newspaper is distributed in public schools and used as a teaching tool for teachers.
The project brings together students of all ages from different schools and classes, including the special units of 4 state schools, children with additional needs who attend our evening literature classes and children from Sunday school from camps for refugees in Kofinou.
The publications are designed to highlight the involvement of the students, local and international writers, scientists, academics, politicians, artists, and all those whose work and contribution to the community will be featured. Each issue takes on a new and important topic that will be introduced by the project’s guests from various fields. This project aims to inspire the younger generation to call for unity and empathy, mutual support and help, to be kinder and more responsive, to value everyone’s abilities and contributions, and to bring out the talents and uniqueness of children, giving them the space to realize it.
As part of the project, three newspaper editions have been planned, one of which came out in February and was distributed to schools in 76 copies. The success of the first issue was so overwhelming that more than 200 schools all over the island have already applied for the next issue.
The 2nd edition will coincide with the foundation’s birthday on May 5. In this edition, four local schools are participating, with two schools from Greece. An interview with the founder, Andrey Dashin, and a short overview of the foundation’s activities will be the main topics of the newspaper. The issue will also include presentations of projects and thematic workshops in the last couple of months on the themes of acceptance, empathy and discovering new sides of oneself.
On April 24, as part of the second edition of the newspaper, Andrey Dashin met with students of one of the schools, not only as a guest but also as an honoured interviewee. The children asked questions about the foundation and its activities, Andrey Dashin’s hobbies, the importance of reading and his book preferences. He shared with the students the main idea from one of his favourite books by Eckhart Tolle on spiritual enlightenment, “The Power of Now”. With interest and engagement, he answered all the children’s questions.
Afterwards, he visited the special unit of Kato Polemidia Lyceum to present books on World Book Day, which occurred the day before, on April 23. The children also received a set of educational board games, in return for which they thanked all the guests with flowers, a moving performance by one of the students and a thank-you speech from the class president.
Reading is like a bridge between the world of fantasy and reality. “A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit,” wrote John Milton. And it is very gratifying to witness more and more children getting involved in reading and journalism, enriching themselves by sharing their impressions, knowledge and experiences with others. And our foundation is proud to support and equip them with the necessary tools.