Empower Students through Leadership Training

After the successful SL opening weekend in October 2023 Student leaders participated in regular online meetings with their SL coordinators - Emona T. and Desislava T.  and sent via email their Project proposals in the middle of December. They received guidance on issues that arose and brainstormed options for solving them. Totally this academic year we have 45 Student Leaders which are from 27 schools all over Bulgaria and presented ideas for 27 Community projects. 

As always, while preparing and organising their Community projects, Student Leaders also support their BEST teams in their schools. They work as BEST ambassadors attracting more new participants in BEST tournaments and supporting their English Coaches. SLs also participate in the BEST clubs weekly meetings in their schools and help their schoolmates to choose, prepare and perform their pieces for the tournaments. This academic year we had 4 Regional tournaments - two in November (Fall West and Fall East) and two in February (Spring West and Spring East) as planned. For each of them the Student leaders created posters for their school BEST clubs which were hung in the corridors of schools and were an attraction and entertainment for all participants during all the tournaments. Student leaders are always the super power that creates a team spirit and provides a sense of community, enthusiasm and motivation. 

At the opening ceremonies of all the tournaments we provide the stage for a short performance to the Student Leaders in the host school or Student Leaders from the nearest city.  This year they performed some creative and fun speeches which were highly enjoyed by all participants. 

First place at the International Debate Tournament Writopia in January - two Student Leaders in the winning Team! 

We are super proud to announce that this year we managed to present BEST at the International Debate Tournament - Writopia, organised by the "Writopia Lab", "Debate Spaces" "Debate to Educate" on 27 and 28 January 2024. Two of the total four members of the team are part of our  Student Leader program Martin D. from PMG “Yane Sandanski”, Gotse Delchev and Mihail I. from the National Gymnasium “Vasil Aprilov”, Gabrovo. Our participants showed mastery and strategic agility and defeated strong opponents from countries such as the UK, USA and South Africa. Although the team of the BEST Foundation had only two weeks to prepare for the ten challenging topics for debate, the participants not only coped with this challenge, but managed to….WIN FIRST PLACE! 

Community Projects Progress…

At the moment Student Leaders are at the final stage of their community projects and the results will be presented during the SL Wrap Up Seminar in Sofia in the middle of May. 

For the most curious of you, here are some of the projects which will be presented and will be competing for the Awards which we have prepared:

Team Dupnitsa- Project related to the awareness about the disappearance of the bees and the disappearance of beekeeping;

Team Pernik- Project related to creating an enjoyable school environment for both teachers and students;

Second English Language School, Sofia - Project related to educating students on non-formal educational topics such as healthy eating, financial literacy and overall life skills;

Team Kyustendil - Project related to increasing motivation among students by promoting different types of extracurricular activities;

Team Pravets - Assisting busy adults with childcare;

Team Montana  - Promotion of the available extracurricular activities for young people in Montana;

Team Vidin - Raising awareness about the importance of water conservation;

and many more…

Wrap Up Seminar coming soon..

The semester will end with the Wrap Up Seminar which will be held in hotel Shipka, Sofia, on the 11 and 12th May. This is the time when Student Leaders will present their Community Projects. The project results will be discussed and Management Team members will provide them with valuable feedback and assess the quality of the projects. 

All of the teams were working very hard and showed a high level of commitment to their local community during the Spring semester. 

We can not wait for the amazing Project presentations and videos in the Middle of May! 

Dear Friends, thank you all for your support! We would not be able to run the amazing Student Leader program without you! 

We would be very grateful if you could share our GlobalGiving link with your friends and continue your support with monthly donations! 

Your support leads to a significant change in the life of each and every student that participates in our Student Leader program and we are super grateful to have you as our angel!