Report

June 16th July 11th

2014

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Summer Leadership Academy (SLA) was a 4-week-long program designed for teenagers who have a very good level of English and who want to learn leadership in action. The 72 academic hours of the program were divided as follows:

Outdoors team building, trainer: Alexandru Lozinschi 16 hours

Personal development, trainer: Elena Putina 10 hours

Professional development, trainer: Tania Shevchenko 10 hours

Public speaking, trainer: Catalina Iucal 6 hours

Guest speakers: Alex Iordache, Daniela Munca-Aftenev, Natalia Munteanu, Peter Vlad-Ianusevici 6 hours

Field trips and debriefing: Efes, OkyDoky 12 hours

City Quest and 4th of July party: 6 hours

Final projects and closing ceremony: 6 hours

The course was structured into three parts: Explore Discover your strengths, Experiment Put your skills to the test, and Connect Do great work with awesome people. The concept was developed by the AdAstra group and helps guide students leadership development along a well-structured path.

Aside from regular hours students also had lunch the expenses for which was included in their tuition. For more details on the structure of the course, please see the schedule attached.

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Philosophy of the course

Although some of the students regarded the Sumer Leadership Academy as an opportunity to improve their command of English, the greatest part of participants had advanced level and, therefore, were more demanding, but also more motivated. Therefore the philosophy of the course was to give highly-motivated teenagers with good knowledge of English an environment that would help nurture their leadership potential, their spirit of initiative and civic involvement. The best way to do that was to connect students with successful and inspiring individuals both among trainers and outside the school. It was crucial that the selection process be rigorous when recruiting both trainers and students.

Recruiting and registering students

SLA is a project that has its history and reputation and some of the people who registered or enquired about it have heard of SLA from former students. However, the fact that the number of students was almost double compared to previous years indicates that the new marketing campaign was successful. The campaign included A6 format invitations, A3 posters and facebook posts1. The advertising resulted in a great number of clients and, for the first time, this allowed for a quality filter in the form of telephone interviews that determined the level of English of potential students. The students whose level proved to be insufficient for and active engagement in the specific English-speaking environment were suggested general English courses. The students who passed the interview successfully signed a contract (find attached) and paid the 1500 MDL fee before classes started.

Dividing students into groups

The number of students, 21, exceeded the maximum number of students in a group that would allow for effective interaction and, therefore, students had to be divided into two smaller groups. The first session of the day, team building, encouraged larger groups of students, as well as Public Speaking and Guest Speakers. However, for Personal Development and Professional Development students were divided into groups that were different every time, as well as the method used for dividing. Students had to pick cards with different symbols, chose members of their teams themselves, etc. This procedure allowed students to interact with different people every time and prevented the consolidation of two separate teams.

Outdoors team building

1AllthepromotionalmaterialswerecreatedbyElenaPutinaandcanbefoundattached,andbyfollowingthelinkshttps://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/0B0LHrsR7edBFQ3c5MVRlR3NLOG8andhttps://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/0B0LHrsR7edBFcFhXNzRhTFZWazA.

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The outdoors team building sessions were led by Alexandru Lozinski and usually took place in the central park. The sessions targeted different goals set by the Explore, Experiment, Connect framework and included teambuilding exercises, interaction with people outside the project and working on a video project that was presented on the last day of the course.

Personal Development

The personal development sessions were led by Elena Putina and their main focus was exploring and harvesting students inner leadership potential. During the 5 sessions students did personality tests, meditated on their leadership styles and discussed famous leaders. The students final project for the course was making a speech on their favorite leader. The two speeches that were voted best in their groups competed against each other at the closing ceremony.

Professional Development

The professional development sessions were led by Tania Shevchenko, founder of AdAstra Group2, and focused on students exploration of their professional values and strengths and the possible demand for these on the job market. Through a series of tests, group activities and research sessions students came to assess the value their strengths but also the aspects that are in need of improvement. On the last day of the course students presented their research projects and voted for the best one.

Public Speaking

Cataliana Iucal, president of the Public Speaking Club 3taught students to write a good speech and deliver it to the public following special techniques. Students learned about the content, manner and impact of a perfect speech. After a series of exercises and peer-evaluated attempts, students had to write a speech on a topic of their choice and present it to their group.

Guest Speakers

The guest speakers were leaders from different fields who came to share their experience and insight. They were:

Peter Vlad-Ianusevici founder of Academia Nicolae Dumitrescu4;

2Moreinformationathttp://careerfor.me/3Moreinformationathttp://orator.md/4http://and.md/

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Alex Iordache photographer5;

Daniela Munca-Aftenev Executive Director of American Councils Moldova6;

Natalia Munteanu member of the allfun team7

These people who achieved great success in their fields shared their life and success stories and talked about what being a leader meant to them. Students asked questions and got the speakers contacts for future collaboration. Some of the SLA students even participated in a video project from made by allfun8.

Field trips and debriefing

On the last week of the course students visit two businesses: Efes9 and OkyDoky10. Students to talked to the managers, listened to the stories behind these businesses and their founders and got inspiration and reassurance for their future businesses and projects. The debriefing sessions that followed, led by Alexandru Lozinski and Anna Gabur, were centered around students impressions, what inspired them and in what way what they had seen could influence their future choice.

City Quest and 4th of July party11

On July 4 students had a different schedule, which included 3 hours of City Quest and a 2-hour luncheon. The City Quest was led by Alexandru Lozinski, who divided students into teams and gave them a set of instructions (e.g. take a picture with the American flag ). The final point of the quest was the American Language Center Buiucani office, which was also the luncheon venue. Every team got a certain number of points based on the extent to which the assignment was completed. The winning team received a prize.

The ALC Buiucani yard was a perfect venue for a 4th of July party. The decorations included blue, red and white paper chains, paper crowns and American flags. The food provided was fresh hotdogs that were grilled on the spot, various toppings, doughnuts and soft drinks. The nature of the celebration was informal, tables and chairs having been replaced by blankets. Students and trainers talked and played various board games.

5http://iordache.md/6http://www.americancouncils.md/7http://allfun.md/8http://www.allfun.md/article/331729http://efes.md/ro/10https://www.facebook.com/pages/OkyDokyCafe/36088001401334711Photosfromtheeventcanbeseenherehttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.704131639650633.1073741828.162439073819895&type=3

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Final projects and closing ceremony12

The last day of the course commenced with a closing speech from the coordinator, Anna Gabur, and collecting students opinions and feedback. Students wrote messages to the SLA team and to each other. The second part was dedicated to students final projects for their three main modules: Team Building, Personal Development, Professional Development. Students voted for the winner in each category and winners received prizes.

The second part of the day was dedicated to handing graduation certificates and the graduation luncheon. Sandwiches, toppings, vegetables and soft drinks were served. The venue chosen was the yard of the main ALC office where students shared their impressions, socialized and shared contacts.

Miscellaneous

Food: The tuition fee paid by students included daily lunches. They were ordered by Anna Gabur and included pizza, kebabs, crepes, placinte, etc.

Communication

Communication with students was an essential part of the course and was carried out in various ways: through facebook posts, through emails and through weekly feedback forms.

Conclusions

They key to success, besides the quality of the curriculum, was the sense of belonging and continuity that was channeled to students. The course was perceived as something more than a just a 4-month-long opportunity to practice English and this was due to some trainers active involvement and enthusiasm which allowed for students enthusiastic and responsible attitude. Many activities that helped shaped the 2014 edition of SLA were not required and not paid, such as making sandwiches, making decorations and promotional materials, communicating with students outside the classroom, etc. However, it is safe to say that at least for some students these weighed more than the curricular material, especially as the warm atmosphere motivated students for better attendance and performance. One of the things that has to be developed in future editions is attracting trainers who would take ownership of the work they do for the project and make sure that everybody takes part in organizing parties and communicating to students. The target group of the course requires trainers who would go beyond the classroom-related work.

12Photosfromtheeventcanbeseenherehttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.707691195961344.1073741830.162439073819895&type=3

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Due to the fact that the course requires getting into contact with people outside the American Language Center, a strong English-speaking network would have to be developed in advance in order to have a list of guest speakers and companies to choose from.

Students feedback

The SLA gave me unique experience in communicating with people. I became more courageous and creative. I became a true leader.

Ilay

I really liked the teachers that had lessons with us. Especially Elena! They are so inspiring, patient and positive! I really enjoyed the Summer Leadership Academy!

Laura

Thanks to the Sla team for having us, it was a really great journey for me. I feel like Ive made some great progress and I will not stop here. I became good friends with all the participants and I really hope we wont lose touch.

Iuliana

It was a great experience that I will never forget.

Nadia

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