My Euroscola journey

     Thinking back on it, Euroscola has been one of the best school-related experiences I've had. My friend described it as 'perfect'. Coming from such a small country like Croatia, young people often get the impression that there are no opportunities for their voices to be heard. But I believe that participating in an event such as Euroscola we get hope that what we're saying, thinking and believing is important.

My school competed in #thistimeimvoting competition by making a video about voting, and sharing a link to www.thistimeimvoting.eu (www.ovajputglasam.eu) website on social media for people to register. Getting 1261 new registered users, more than any other school in Croatia, we won a subsidy for a trip to Strasbourg and a right to take part in the Euroscola programme.

After arriving at the European Parliament on March 21, we had to pass a security check, we got our badges, and went to the Chamber. Shortly after the beginning of the programme, pupils started giving speeches introducing their schools. It was quite interesting to hear about other pupils' schools, places where they came from, and their ideas. Also, it was a bit surreal to see a photograph of my town on the screen in the European Parliament during Croatia's speech. What I especially liked during our time spent in the Chamber is that we were asked our opinions about the European Union, such as do we get enough information about the EU. Later, we had a debate with Mr Edouard Martin. Students had interesting questions about present-day problems like Brexit, Articles 11 and 13, climate change and migration. Mr Martin was eager to answer the questions, and students seemed pleased with the answers. Following the debate, we had lunch. During lunch, we split into groups of 4 pupils from different countries to answer the questions in the Eurogame. One of the rare things that I didn't like about Euroscola is that Croatian question had three spelling mistakes – and it was a single sentence. Next, students split into working groups (Environment and renewable energies, Security and human rights, 2019 European elections, The future of Europe, Migration and integration, and Youth employment), and us, the young reporters had a press conference with Mr Luis Martinez Guillem, director of the liaison office of the EP of Strasbourg. Mr Martinez Guillem showed a presentation about the history, purpose and goals of Euroscola. During the presentation, we found out that the number of voters voting in the European elections is declining every year. The goal for this elections is to get

about fifty percent of eligible voters to vote. We had an opportunity to ask questions; one question that I found really interesting was a question regarding the difference in quality of products on the market in Eastern and Western Europe. The other questions that were asked showed that young people are concerned about current topics and have interesting ideas how to solve them. The next activity was an interview with one of our peers. I ended up interviewing Katrina from Latvia, and I was interviewed by Maja from Bulgaria. Although I haven't prepared any questions, I'd like to think that the interviews went well. Following the interviews, we visited one of the working groups and got to see a 360° movie at the Parlamentarium, which was a fun experience.

Finally, we returned to the Chamber to see the presentations of the reports adopted in the working groups. Every group had a spokesperson that presented their ideas on how to solve some of the problems of the European Union and answered questions that other students had. We had a chance to vote do we agree, abstain, or disagree with the ideas and proposals presented to us. All of the reports were adopted with a majority number of votes. The last activity of the day was the final of Eurogame. Four best groups made it to the final. A Croatian student was a member of the team that finished second, which was something that our whole school was especially proud of. Questions that were asked were general knowledge and music questions, and the rest of us also had the chance to answer the music ones on the voting machines. It was unusual to hear Queen and ABBA in an event like this, but it made the experience much more memorable. Closing the event, there was a finishing ceremony with the students carrying the flags and the European Union anthem.

I believe that my peers and I learned a lot participating in Euroscola. Now we have a greater understanding of how the EU and the European Parliament works, the importance of voting, how certain decisions are made and how they affect us and our lives. We have made new unique experiences, new friends and saw new things. Although I am not yet old enough to vote, this has made me sure that the first chance I get, I will vote. Because, as we were reminded, if you don't vote, you can't complain.

Seeing so many different young people from different places and backgrounds have so many great ideas makes me hopeful for the future of the world that we are living in and it makes me anticipate all the great things that they, that we, can achieve.

Marina Međurečan, prof.

(Tekst napisala učenica Nora Slivar, 2. a og)