Scholarship Programme - weekend meetings
Weekend meetings within the 'Help me start in life...' project
Twice during a school year we organize prolonged spring and autumn Weekend meetings (since the 2nd year of the programme, always from Thursday to Sunday) for students included in the Scholarship programme. During the weekends we organize various workshops and leisure activities but the main goal of these meetings is to get to know each other and gain the trust of these children who have been repeatedly disappointed by adults. We have been successful in our efforts and all the students know that they can contact us anytime for advice or help, or just to talk about what's new which is something most of them regularly take advantage of.
During the weekends the children who have met the given conditions are paid out their Scholarship of Merit and set out their new goals for the following semester.
We open and finish our weekend meetings with a festive lunch in one of our favourite restaurants.
We were looking forward to the first Weekend meeting with children or young people, however our anticipation was, of course, accompanied by concerns ... Just imagine that you go for a weekend with 17 teenagers who are growing up in children´s homes ... Would you worry about what would happen? We did!
Will they get bored?
Will they even listen?
Will they do just as they please?
How to give them information so that they would respond?
What kind of activities to come up with which they would find entertaining?
How will it all turn out???
It went far beyond our expectations. All 10 young men and 7 girls were absolutely amazing. All the subsequent Weekend meetings took place in a similar atmosphere even though the number of participants almost doubled ...
1st Weekend meeting: 5 - 7 October 2012 - Jizera Mountains – Malý Semerink - Artur Pension
Lecturers / topics - psychologists, members of the DEJME DĚTEM ŠANCI Advisory Board PhDr.Ivan Skalík PhD. and Mgr.Bohumila Vokáčová, financial literacy, housing law - JUDr. Markéta Vaňková, sexual prevention – Zuzana Prouzová, Legislative Theatre (the children themselves were actively involved in the plot) – Lenka Remsová.
Leisure activity - climbing center
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the company Partners Financial Services.
2nd Weekend meeting: 5 – 7 April 2013 - Prague - Old Brewery Hotel and Golf Hotel
Lecturers / topics - financial literacy - Marcela Hrubošová, personal development and setting realistic goals - Rostya Gordon - Smith, Legislative Theatre (interactive performance) – Lenka Remsová, finance, labor law - JUDr. Markéta Vaňková, first aid - Norbert Bidrman.
Leisure activity - bowling
Over the weekend the children were visited by the representatives of the AGROFERT HOLDING Foundation and the law firm DBK PARTNERS who supported individual children in the Scholarship programme.
We finished the weekend with a lunch in the Ambiente Brazileiro restaurant.
During the lunch the children were visited by the patron of the project ‘Help me start in life ...’ doc. MUDr. Jan Měšťák, CSc., and the Tykač couple. Due to the financial support of the company Czech Coal and Mr. Pavel Tykač we were enabled to start the first year of the Scholarship programme.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the company GEPARD FINANCE.
3rd Weekend meeting: 10 -13 October 2013 - Slapy - Laguna Hotel
During this meeting the students were, due to their numbers, divided into two groups during the workshops.
The Weekend meeting began with taking pictures of the children at Prague´s Kampa by the photographer Eva Javůrková.
The company VCES prepared for all the boys of the group an excursion to one of their building sites. Meanwhile, the girls were visited by the professional stylist Mirka Zittová who showed them how to properly put on the make-up, and the doctor MUDr.Zdeňka Kravarová who clarified all the information about vaccination and prevention of vaginal cervix cancer.
Lecturers / topics - preparation for a work interview - Marina Vaňková, job interviews in practice - a group of lecturers from the McKinsey Company, housing law - JUDr. Markéta Vaňková, prevention of indebtedness - JUDr. Markéta Vaňková , first aid - Norbert Biderman, sexul education - Radim Uzel.
Leisure activity - TEPfaktor with the DEJME DĚTEM ŠANCI patrons Lucie Benešová, Vláďa Hron and Bára Špotáková.
The Weekend meeting was finished with a lunch at the TGI Friday's restaurant in Smíchov.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the company GEPARD FINANCE.
4th Weekend meeting: 10 – 13 April 2014 - Most – Benedikt Pension
The Weekend meeting started with a lunch in the Prague located Pizza Nuova Restaurant. Instead of walking along Petřín, due to bad weather, we visited a cinema multiplex.
One group saw the so-called ‘Coal Safari’ of the company Vršanská uhelná, and saw with their own eyes not only surface mining but also re-cultivation of a mined area in the Most region. The second group joined the tour of the hippodrome but instead of visiting mines they paid a visit to the Podkrušnohorské Technical Museum.
Lecturers / topics - Legislative theater, rhetorics - Regina Řandová, personal development and mind maps - Rostya Gordon - Smith, ‘Children without debts’ - debt relief - Mgr. Alena Vlachová, first aid - Norbert Biderman, drug prevention - Jan Grůžek, a member of the riot police of the Czech Republic.
Leisure activity – bowling, competitions in the swimming pool in the Most children´s home altogether with the DEJME DĚTEM ŠANCI patron Vladimír Hron, a discussion with the DEJME DĚTEM ŠANCI patron Lucie Benešová that revealed to the children some of the secrets of film shooting.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the company VCES.
5th Weekend meeting: 9 - 12 October 2014 - Slapy - Laguna Hotel
Upon arrival we learned how to be introduced under the leadership of our cooperating psychologist PhDr. Ivan Skalík Ph.D..
Lecturers / topics - financial literacy - Marcela Hrubošová, personal development - Mgr. Barbora Stejskalová, study abroad - McKinsey in collaboration with the Student agency and the company INEX, hygiene - Norbert Bidrman, business incubator - Ing. Miroslav Křížek PhD., rhetorics - our patron Vladimír Hron.
Leisure activity – whole-day team sports activities aimed at not only getting to know oneself but also others, prepared for us by Mgr. Jan Kouřimský.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the company VCES
and Mr. Ing. Miroslav Křížek PhD..
6th Weekend meeting: 23 -26 April 2015 - Mýto - Resort Brdy Pension
The Weekend meeting was opened with a visit to the Kampa Museum.
Lecturers / topics - negotiation - Mgr. Jiří Černý, personal development - Barbora Stejskalová and Kateřina Kolářová, ethics - Mirka Homolková, treatment of seriously wounded men - Norbert Bidrman.
Leisure activity - we tried out teamwork and fought in an indoor reball hall.
The Weekend meeting was finished with a lunch in the Ambiente Brasileiro restaurant.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of KPMG and the ESET Foundation.
7th Weekend meeting: 15 – 18 October 2015 – Slapy, Laguna Hotel
The Weekend meeting was started off with an excursion to the production premises of the company Continental in Brandýs nad Labem.
Lecturers / topics – etiquette – Mgr.René Cienciala, contractual amendments – JUDr.Markéta Vaňková, marketing and media – Jaroslava Musilová, healthy diet – MUDr.Kateřina Cajthamlová
Leisure activity – a visit to the rope centre
We closed the Weekend meeting out with a lunch in the Butcher´s restaurant.
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the companies MetLife, Continental Corporation and RWE.
8th Weekend meeting: 31 March – 3 April 2016 – Hradec nad Moravicí
The first point of the programme was an excursion to the production premises of the Kofola company.
Lecturers / topics - financial literacy – MetLife, the life of handicapped people – Pavla Kukolová, legislative theatre
Leisure activity – sport tournament, a guided tour of the Hradec nad Moravicí chateau
The Weekend meeting was held with the financial support of the companies BNP Paribas and MetLife. Our thanks also belong to the companies Lactalis and Bonavita which donated snacks to us.