GIVE BLOOD - GIVE LIFE

Students of Business Academy in Levice decided to do a really great volunteer activity. 10 students went to hospital and with the help of the organisation the Red Cross they donated their blood and helped people who need it.
Every minute of every day, someone needs blood. That blood can only come from a volunteer donor, a person like me oryou who makes the choice to donate. There is no substitute for your donation. Blood donations help millions of patients in need. To make the journey from “arm to arm,” every unit goes through series of steps and tests to ensure that it is as safe as can be.
When you make a blood donation, you join a very select group. Currently only 3 out of every 100 people in America donate blood. In Slovakia is the situation a little bit better. Blood donation has a long tradition in Slovakia. From its beginning, the organisation Red Cross has formed a community of service, of generous, strong and decent people bound by beliefs beyond themselves. The Red Cross blood donor embodies this principle.
Benefits of volunteering
• You will feel great knowing you are making a difference.
• You will meet donors and hear why they give blood or how blood transfusions have touched their lives. It may change your own.
• You can do good on your own schedule, volunteer as much as and as often as your schedule permits.
• You will enjoy flexible locations and times.
• You will become part of a 125-year-old tradition of neighbours helping neighbours in need.
We depend on volunteers
Volunteers constitute 96 percent of our total work force to carry on our humanitarian work:
• Every year the Red Cross responds to many disasters—including home fires every day.
• A lot of people turn to us to learn first aid, CPR, swimming, and other health and safety skills. Last year, several hundreds of people volunteered to teach those courses.
• Several volunteers serve as chairs, members of boards of directors, or on advisory boards for local Red Cross units - chapters, Blood Services regions

Why Volunteer?

SLOVAK VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY - BOOKS FOR EVERYONE

Not to love a book, means not to love wisdom. Nowadays it is easier to switch on the TV or the video-player and watch the film, but what about books? Aren´t they worth reading? A famous pedagogue Ján Amos Komenský said: „Not to love books, means not to love wisdom and it means to become a blockhead"
In March - the month of books the STUDENTS OF Business Academy in Levice, Slovakia Zuzana Demeterová and Monika Škvarková organized the survey in the streets of the town Levice to find out what people think about books, if they like buying and reading them. All the respondents were given a book from the students - interviewers. The answers of 30 respondents were interesting. The students made them into the short study which can be found here:
The question No. 1 „Do you read books or do you prefer watching films?" 20 respondents answered they read books and 10 respondents said they only watch films
The question No. 2 „How often do you read?" the respondents had following answers:
a) Frequently 10
b) Occassionaly 7
c) Rarely 3
d) Never 10
The question No. 3 „How often do you buy books?" the respondents answered this way:
a) often 2
b) sometimes 10
c) rarely 5
d) never 13
The question No. 4 „What kinds of books do you read?" 17 respondents answered romantic novels,5 bestsellers - like Harry Potter, vampire stories, 2 respondents read non - fiction literature and one respondent said he reads science fiction.
The question No.5 „Do your children read?" 10 respondents answered yes and 20 respondents said no.
The last question „Do you think reading is good for people?" all respondents answered yes, it is good, but some of the respondents added, they are too busy to find time for reading.
To sum up, the short survey about books have shown most people like books, two thirds of respondents read but one third of respondents consider reading as waste of time, because they are busy in their lives, they prefer watching films instead of reading books. Hamlet´s question about literature „to love or not to love books" is possible to answer positively - „to love", but a big problem still remains - „to find or not to find time for reading them..."

ROMANIAN VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY - "WE WANT TO HELP"

WE WANT TO HELP!


National College students, members of Club Impact Pedagogic, organized a ride to the Dogs and Cats shelter of Zoo Terra `s Association and “Noroc” Foundations in order to help these man `s friends and offer them specific food.
The direct beneficiaries of this project are the 100 dogs and cats, the indirect beneficiaries – National College students.
The purpose for this action was to offer help to the community animals, victims of the indifference.
The project `s objectives were the sensitization of the pupils toward the problem of stray animals and to involve students into animal protection associations in order to constantly help these animals.
Students brought food worth an estimated value of 800 RON for the quadruplets in the care of ONG.
The absence of specialized institutions, the lack of efficient programs have determined the appearance of such associations, student `s initiatives that are struggling to create a voice in the defense of animal rights.

WHY TO VOLUNTEER

See the film why it is worth to volunteer :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHbQrlQ7yE

The photo from the first activity "Brick for Africa"

Students raising money for building wells for South Sudan and other African countries. :)

FIRST VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY „BRICK FOR AFRICA“
There is written in Bible: Matthew 10:42 - "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." And led by this idea students of Business Academy in Levice had decided to organize an interesting, humanitarian and helping volunteer activity at their school called THE BRICK FOR AFRICA in the cooperation with the christian association SAVIO. ON 18 March 2011 they were selling plastic bracelets and mobile phone apendages to raise money. The aim of this activity is to raise money for building wells with drinking water in Africa and especially in South Sudan where there is the worst situation with drinking water. Students have raised 63.65€. This amount of the money was sent to the association SAVIO and it will be transfered to Africa to help people who are in need of drinking water.
1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. 1 out of 6 people in this world live without access to clean drinking water. 80% of all diseases like diarrhea, typhoid and parasites are linked to lack of clean drinking water. Lack of clean water has killed more people than the war. Clean drinking water is something we take for granted in the developed world, but in one-sixth of the world's population it is a big problem. Clean drinking water is not just about life or death, it could also affect the ability to earn income or go to school. Many people, especially in Africa, walk hours just to get a couple of gallons of drinkable water, losing countless hours a week they could be going to school or earning income.
In addition, even the water they are able to get may look clean, but have harmful microbes that can cause disease, and even death, especially among young children. And when someone does get sick from unclean drinking water, the sickness reverberates into the entire community. Imagine a 9 year-old child who misses 3 months of school because of contracting dysentary. Or a 24 year-old man, the head of his household, who can't work because of typhoid. This is not to mention all the deaths that occur to due unclean water. Communities in developing countries also tend to be more interdependent than modern societies. As a result, when one person or one family is affected by disease caused by unclean drinking water, it affects the entire community. Additionally, you need clean drinking water for basic sanitation. Imagine a world where you don't have the clean water you need to wash your hands every time you go to the bathroom ... how many times a day is that? Also, imagine not having the clean water you need to wash your dishes after a meal ... how many dishes is that a day? This is not to mention the clean water needed for washing clothes and bathing. And all of these problems will be exponentially increased by the coming climate change that will hurt the world's poor the most, especially in this area of clean water.
WE ARE REALLY HAPPY WE COULD HELP

HOW TO BECOME A VOLUNTEER

How to become a volunteer
• Would you like to join us in helping people and children who need it in the world or at home?
• Do you want to spread solidarity and liability for the state of our globalized world among the Slovak, Romanian and World public with specific actions?
• Do you have any interesting ideas, suggestions...?
• Do you want to cooperate with European partners in volunteering project called „VOLUNTEER VOICES“?
If you answered yes you can become the volunteer immediately! Welcome to our project and help peple who need it, they will appreciate your help!

THE PROJECT "VOLUNTEER VOICES" HAS BEEN AWARDED BY ETWINNING LABEL

Our project has been awarded by eTwinning label!
:)

BUSINESS ACADEMY IN LEVICE SLOVAKIA

History and present of the school
Business academy in Levice belongs among state trade secondary schools majoring in economics. Secondary economic school in Levice was established in 1967 and since then it has been preparing qualified cadres for all areas of our economy. Our school has always had to react flexibly to the changed economic situation and it has always tried to prepare its graduates to be successful at their workplaces. The considerable change has come in the special trade school system in Slovakia due to social process and the situation on the labour market since September 1990. The school transmuted , it changed its name to Business academy, the structure of professional orientation and school subjects. Now the school offers secondary education finished with a school-leaving examination. Graduates of this school can continue their studies at universities predominantly of economic or law objectives. Our students are prepared for the practise in the production enterpreses, for state and public administration, for private enterprises nad companies. Thank to versatileness they can work as accountants, economists, managers, secretaries, salesmen, private enterpreneurs, bankers.
Nowadays Business academy has 12 classes and four hundred students at the age of 15 – 19. The school is equipped with the modern computer technique, we have been involved in several Internet projects. Business academy has some special classrooms for teaching economic subjects, two special classrooms for teaching economic exercises, accounting and other economic subjects. Three special classrooms, equipped with electronic typewriters, are used for teaching technics of paperwork and economic correspondence.
Pedagogical staff is fully qualified and has 30 teachers who teach both general and economic subjects. The school offers accomodation of students in the boarding house and boarding in the school canteen.

School priorities
Business school sets the priority to prepare its students for life, it has the ambition to educate young people who will be able to carry on economic work linked with gaining and processing information in the area of production, supplying, sales, marketing, management, human resources management. The graduate student should conduct independently paperwork, bookkeeping, master work with computers. He should be an independent, enterprising, deliberate, and economically thinking person. During four years of the study at Business academy the student undergoes these subjects: corporate economics, bookkeeping, economic geography, technics of paperwork and correspondence, statistics, national economics, science of commodities, law study, economic exercises, mathematics, social communication, and facultative subjects – banking, management, marketing, economic week, applied economy. Students of the third and fourth forms take part in biweekly practice in some state, private enterprises, banks, or tax offices in our region. This practice allows students to use their theoretical knowledge directly in practice.
Students study Slovak language, history, biology and ecology, civics, ethics and religious education, physical education. We teach English, German and Russian languages at Business academy. Students choose two languages and at the end of their study they can use all language skills. Foreign language teachers lead their students to be communicative. They work with economic texts and master economic correspondence in the foreign language. Students take part in competitions, olympiads and projects and they achieve great results.
Students can try out working atmosphere in the „real“ firm. In the third form within economic exercises in the fictious firm they work in one of the fictious firms. The fictious firms have special classes with modern computer technology with Internet at its disposal. Nowadays there are four fictious firms at school. They trade with Slovak and foreign firms which work at different schools and they take part in fairs of fictious firms at home and abroad.
A student company APE – JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT SR – Youth for future provides extra economic education by means of practical programmes. The connection with the enterpreneurially sector and the professional approach gives students the opportunity to decide ethically and have a good sense of direction in open market economy before being involved to working process.

Projects and competitions
Students of Business academy become involved in many projects and competitions organized by Ministry of Education of the Slovak republic, the European Union and other organizations. One of them is e-Economy. It includes INVESTLAND – a virtual simulation of economics on Internet – its aim is to familiarize students with market economy and Internet. Fifty students are involved in this project. E-Economy is a virtual three-month long course of economy. During this course students get the drift of basic principles of economy and values of open market. Students co-operate with a virtual teacher – tutor.
There is Educational Centre of Infovek at Business school which carries out the Project of teachers education in ICT.
Really favourite among students are Olympiads. Students studying English take part in essay competitions organized by British Council, YMCA and a magazine Friendship. German language students correspond with students in different countries of the world via Internet.
Our students actively participate in various social - science projects. Among favourite projects belong projects organized by civic initiatives Človek v ohrozeni, UNICEF, UNESCO, Council of Europe European Parliament and Amnesty International. Every year the students take part in Human Rights Olympiad. Its aim is to know human rights and willingness to fight for their abidance. In the co-operation with Slovak Debate Association the student team takes part in Model UNO and BratMUN conferences. It offers students the opportunity to try out working in „real“ UNO, improve their knowledge in politology and solve global problems of mankind.
Human rights club has been involved in the European project eTwinning with its projectS. The school has worked on 17 eTwinning projects, four of them have been awarded by theree first and one second prize in the Slovak national eTwinning competition :).
Those students who are interested in special issues – history, folk culture, environment, fine art, etc. can be active in Secondary school special activity.
Students are very active in the sporting area. They take part in various sporting events and competitions, inter-class tournaments and other sporting matches with sportsmen from secondary schools in our region.
All students can take part in various and interesting social and cultural events and activities. Student Council organizes matriculations, student school fancy-dress balls, school picnics, chess and tennis tournaments.
The Co-operation with parents has been really good and it has been improving. Parents support multilaterally efforts of the school and they are actively interested in educational process at Business school.
There are several clubs at Business academy:
-Club of economic projects

The National Pedagogical High School “Constantin Bratescu” European School

The school founder work of the Man and Patriot, Ion Banescu is crowned with the founding of the Normal School in Constanta.
In 1993, on the celebration of 100 years from the founding of the “Constantin Bratescu” Normal School, occasion on which the centennial institution received the honorific title of The National Pedagogical High School “Constantin Bratescu”, the first National Pedagogical High School, in this part of country.
The High School the only Dobrudjan school institution owning the title of “European School”. Is a great and modern school complex (kindergarten, primary, high school, with over 1200 kindergartin pupils and students).
The study of the foreign languages, operating the computer, together with a careful cultivation of the civic values.
Our High School students wear a specific uniform and distinctive symbols: a badge and name tag in the white-silvery and light-blue colours.
The specialisations are: mathemathics – computer science, philology, bilingual study – translator , social – sciences, bilingual study – translator, instructor – animator, extracurricular education.
The international projects are: “Messages of Experience”, “Wirral human resources for Romania – England”, “The European Network of Schools promoting health”, “Leissure in European style – France”, “Pilot school for the Anti Drug programme financed by Phare”, “Spring day in Europe”. eTwinning projects M@pping of Jewish History and Volunteer voices

ABOUT THE PROJECT „VOLUNTEER VOICES“

The project „Volunteer voices“ (partners: students of Business Academy in Levice, Slovakia and students of Colegiul National Pedagogic Constantin Bratescu, Constanta, Romania) focuses on mapping the movement of volunteers in the Word, the EU and in the countries which students involved in this project come from. It also deals with the local activities of volunteers in communities where students live. One of the goals of the project is to map the activities of students in the area of volunteering process. The project has an ambition to discuss issues of volunteering movement and also organize mutual volunteering activities in the areas of where students live to showcase the diversity, breadth and depth of volunteering. The subjects involved in the project are: History, Citizenship, Drama, European Studies, Foreign Languages, Informatics / ICT. The project language is English. The age of involved students is 16 – 19. In the project we have been using these tools: Twinspace, a Twinblog, Chat, e-mail, Forum, MP3, Other software (Powerpoint, video, pictures and drawings), videofilms, video conferences, web and blog publishing. The expected results of the project are: better understanding of the topic and creating mutual activities in the field of volunteering and outputs of the project will be CD, DVD, videoconferences, blogs and web page. The project leads students to better understanding of volunteering and tries to teach them to respect human´s dignity, to be tolerant and empathic. The International Year of Volunteers 2011, offers an exceptional opportunity to join a global effort to reinvigorate the spirit of volunteerism.