Mensa Srbije - Mensa summer school

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MENSA SUMMER SCHOOL

Begečka Jama, project in ecology
Text by Ranko Rajović

The section for the gifted of Mensa Serbia, Nikola Tesla Center (NTC), organized another Mensa Summer School, already a traditional event by now, aimed at networking of high school students from diaspora with their fellow-students from Serbia, as well as getting familiar with history, culture and the way of life in our country. During the past six years, high school students from Romania, Hungary, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Singapore and Austria took place in this event.

During the first several years, the summer school program consisted primarily of lectures and creative workshops in different fields, which the participants attended in the morning and in the afternoon they had time for leasure and other free activities. These activities included visiting cultural and historical sites of Novi Sad and its vicinity, spending time with high school students from Novi Sad, etc. We included some new activities in this year’s program as well.

In our attempt to combine ‘business’ and pleasure, I turned to the Institute for Environmental Protection with a project prepared by Ljubomir Kustudić, Vladimir Dimovski and myself. The key objective of the project was the promotion of the Begečka Jama, a pit situated in the Danube backwater basin 20 km to the north of Novi Sad. The Institute answered affirmatively to our project proposal and granted funds in the amount of RSD 200,000 for its realization. From that moment, it was up to the NTC/Mensa and myself, as the person responsible for the project, to prepare everything else and set the ground for smooth implementation of the project: to provide lecturers, find accommodation, animate media, promote the project, provide a ship and other necessary logistics support. Once all the activities related to this event were covered, RSD 20,000 remained, which were added to the Mensa annual budget and remained to be used for other similar activities.

I had unreserved support of Ljubomir Kustudić, Uroš Petrović and Vladimir Dimovski in realization of the project. We had to justify trust bestowed upon us by the Institute, as well as to plan and allocate wisely donated funds. Until the very last moment we worried whether everything was going according to the plan. In addition to all complexities that usually come along such an activity, 10 additional representatives of the city authorities signed up for the visit, as they wanted to see for themselves implementation of the project in the field. Three TV crews and several newspapers journalists attended the event as well (Dnevnik, Gradjanski, etc.).

Despite the amount of time, work, nerves and efforts vested in this event, the organizers and participants, as well as the donors, were all extremely satisfied with the outcome, especially with the promotional brochure prepared as an activity on the project for the purposes of promoting this part of the Danube. A logo of the Begečka Jama has been designed as well. On the other hand, this was yet another point scored for Mensa, both in Novi Sad and Serbia in general, as due to broad media coverage, the information of the event has reached many.

For the next year, we plan a similar project which will involve the children of the Danube countries (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania) and two Novi Sad high schools.