STUDENTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF INFORMATICS PIATRA NEAMT WERE AWARDED FOR A PROJECT WHICH PROMOTES THE COUNTY BY CYCLING TOURISM

A team of students from the National College of Informatics Piatra Neamt was the winner in the national competition Greenovation Challenge, held by the organization Junior Achievement (JA) Romania.
Students had proposed three routes for mountain biking and cycling in the Neamt county, where they identified  on a list of national heritage more than 550 monuments, monasteries, castles and archaeological sites that could attract lovers of nature and movement. For each route, they have proposed and prepared young guides who provide information about trails, flora and fauna in the area, as well as culture and traditions Neamt County.                                                            

"From this experience I have learned not to be afraid to express myself and do not give up if you want to get what you want. I learned how much you have to work to be satisfied with the results and win. I'm happy that I had the extraordinary chance to take part in such a competition in which I learned wonderful things that certainly will help me in the future", said Georgia Gheorghiciuc, student in 9th grade at National College of Informatics Piatra Neamț and member of the winning team, coordinated by Professor Dorina Mormocea.

Together with other students from the College Alexandru cel Bun (Gura Humorului), Constantin Brancoveanu High School (Horezu) and Mircea Eliade High School (Întorsura Buzau), the team from National College of Informatics Piatra Neamt will represent Romania in a learning event that will be held in Norway this year in October. This event will be attended 30 Romanian and Norwegian students who will work in mixed teams to solve an issue of sustainable development.

The competition is part of the Greenovation Challenge, a bilateral Romanian-Norwegian project for environmental education, developed in partnership with the organization Ungt Entreprenørskap Romontana and Sogn og Fjordane (UESoF), which involves, in 2014-2016, more than 900 students and 40 high school teachers in mountainous areas.
The 20 teams selected in the national phase of the competition proposed solutions to major environmental problems which communities from mountain areas are facing, like unsustainable consumption of resources, population exodus, lack of jobs, coupled with environmentally harmful activities.

Students have proposed sustainable development projects, have created communication campaigns and mobilized community members to persuade local authorities through events, petitions and open letters to support or implement their ideas. In addition, they organized environmental education activities during the A Different School Week, initiating planting saplings and ecological actions in their cities.

In the first year of the project, over 500 students from 14 towns in the mountainous regions in Romania went through ecological education activities in the classroom using educational materials free of charge and attended the webinars, where they have obtained information about the competition and about the concept of sustainable development.
Young people have understood the importance of smart use of resources in harmony with the environment and learned how they can be involved in community environmental problems and how they can gain knowledge and skills for a future career in a growing field - protecting the environment and resources.

The project Greenovation Challenge is financed by EEA grants 2009-2014, under the NGO Fund in Romania.
For official information about the EEA and Norway Grants go on www.eeagrants.org and www.fondong.fdsc.ro