International conference “Finding your voice in a global world“

On November 11th Kaunas Jablonskis Gymnasium hosted a conference for its 90th anniversary, with the key idea being “Finding your voice in a global world“. Guests speakers from Ukraine, Taiwan, India discussed a wide range of topics ranging from “Meaning of life” to “Helping students find their voice through poetry”. These teachers and educators shared their interesting life stories as third culture kids, volunteers, ex-pats.

During the conference itself, students presented their research and analysis on a topic of their choosing, such as identity, literature, cinematography, or historical personalities. One of our students Matas Kenstavičius presented Gražbylė Venclauskaitė, an attorney, who graduated from Didždvaris Gymnasium and her family, who were famous for raising a hundred orphans in their home. Matas shares his experience: It was a meaningful and insightful conference, where I got the chance to research and learn about a significant part of Šiauliai history, and to hear interesting presentations about squatting, Ernest Hemmingway, the concept of neoliberalism, and much more. Overall, it was a great experience during which I improved my presenting, analysis, and critical thinking skills.

3rd Annual CAScade international conference

 At the end of January IB school from India CHIREC organised 3rd annual CAScade conference where participants from 76 countries presented their CAS projects. Our IB2 student Airidas presented VB Cup basketball tournament, which is annual and IB students are always organising it.

VB Cup Basketball Tournament

After one year break VB Cup basketball tournament is alive! This is a CAS project for IB1 students.

Debate championship

On 30th November IB1 students participated at Lithuanian Debate championship for youngsters.

Maltese soup event 2019

Early in December IB students from Didzdvaris gymnasium participated in charity campaign Maltesers soup. Every year before Christmas, Maltesers charity collects donations for lonely, poor and disabled children and elderly people. On early Saturday morning volunteers from IB1 and IB2 gathered at one of the main shopping centers and encouraged people to donate for one of the most vulnerable members of our society. IB students collected donations from people and thanked them by giving a post card or Christmas’ toy. Some volunteers’ helped outside the shopping center by serving soups for donations. This kind of service of IB students contributed to the society and improved our own personal skills. Through Maltesers charity campaign we improved our communicative skills by politely asking people for help and donations, we became more open minded and caring, because when you find out more about a problem like poverty and contribute to its tackling, you feel more empathy for other people and understand them better.

Food Bank 2019

During late October our school's volunteers contributed to Food Bank initiative and encouraged people to donate food for Family house "Motinos Teresės šeimų namai". Students volunteered in several grocery shops and warehouses in the town encouraging and collecting food from people who bought long-life for the families in need. Even though it is said that the rich doesn't feel empathy for poor, people were very generous and donated a lot of food, which will make poor children's winter easier. For volunteers it was very rewarding to talk with people and ask for their help to support families. Sometimes it is hard to ask for help and that's what you can learn from this activity- to be not afraid to ask for support and help when needed. Also every time someone donated food it was very heart-warming to thank those people and feel their genuine willingness to help. It is very important to contribute and do one's duty for the society and people in need because poverty can hit anyone, doesn't matter one's age, gender, race. So showing empathy for others and taking action to fight social inequality was very rewarding to IB student volunteers.

Cleaning cemetery

IB students gathered to clean cemetery before the All Saints Day. It is an annual activity where students can help cemetery administration to get rid of fallen leafs.