First of all, UHR is the name of my ESC project – a Danish folk high school, or højskole in Danish, for young adults 16-19 y.o. And Summer Fest is my Solidarity project. The idea came on my mind on the last day of the On-arrival seminar when I was, let’s be honest, quite exhausted because of the tight schedule that we had.
When I was back to work I thought out the idea and spoke to the headmaster about it. Initially it was the market where the students could sell their paintings, designs, or any other projects – basically all cool things they are creating at their classes during the year. But we realized that in almost the end of the school year there is the Family day tradition where the students show what they were doing at the classes. And this is how the market transformed into the summer festival on the Family day. The market was included in the program. And that was December.
Time passed and in April I got back to the plan. I presented it to all the staff during the meeting and took a manager’s job. We had to engage students into the event, write and send invitation letters to all the guests, make posters and advertise the event to the locals. Then decide on the program and the timeline. I spoke to students about the day and how they can participate. I had a conversation with teachers on how their classes can join: either design a product to sell on the market, set up an exhibition, or make a performance. Then I kept in touch with all the staff – about sending the invitations, organizing the program and decorating the inside and outside spaces for the Day.
So! The Fest had happened on June 18th and it was great! Exactly how I though of it. We had exhibitions presented by the Photography, Art, and Design classes. There was a music concert performed by our students’ band, and the play written(!) and played by our Acting class. The Cooking class with a help of kitchen ladies made a great summer café. In the middle of the day we had the Market where students sold a homemade dandelion syrup, paintings, and handmade accessories. There was even a photo booth! As the result we all – students, parents, and the staff enjoyed the day and raised approx. €530 and got a DJ on the final gala party.
Reflecting a little bit after I’m quite proud of myself. I had a courage and passion to promote the idea to all the people and then go all the way trough to make everything up, meet the deadline, and make an event for around 250 participants. I found out that I enjoy having the responsibility and being involved into the process at the most. But it’s important to mention that the day was made not by me but by us. I think of it being built of many beautiful blocks and each staff member was responsible for one of them. I gathered it all together. And, of course, our students and their parents, who were fully engaged on the Day. I’m very happy that it happened, I enjoyed the process, and it made me think of doing more projects/events of this kind in the future.
ESC Solidarity Projects 