Our Community House in Kaposvár held Open Days on the occasion of the upcoming Selection on 26-27 January. On the first day, our mentors held a professional forum for teachers, and on Saturday, our Community House’s father and mother, all three groups, were excited to welcome interested children and their families. The start of the program was delayed as so many spontaneous conversations with the children and accompanying adults developed. Grandparents, mothers, fathers, babies and little brothers and sisters crowded into the main living areas of our Community Centre. As the noise of the arrival subsided, a really nice welcome and programme presentation was given by the new mentor of the soon-to-be group, Dr. Dániel Varga, who arrived a few weeks ago as a new mentor in our welcoming bunkers.
The programme was reminiscent of our everyday life at the weekend: cheerful development sessions, interesting lectures, mums in the kitchen, students helping and packing, students laughing a lot. First of all, both groups took part in a logic lesson with Adam Balogh. The 6th graders were trained in logic and thinking, while the 10th-12th graders were taught about investments, dividends and the stock market. My university classmates worked on the publication of the Tour Club, in great depth.
The tenth graders listened to a talk by Lilla Fekete, a university student who (as usual) dazzled everyone with her successes. This time, her presentation was about her year in the USA. A lot of interesting things came out for us. We were also amazed when Lilla talked about her recent snowboarding competition in South Korea. Lilla’s presentations turned into a long discussion about American culture, lifestyle, education system, multiculturalism, diversity in the world.
After some refreshments, we attended a communication session by Dr. Péter Gombos. Here, we first competed against each other, where only the best spellers could win. After several rounds of competition, we looked at a collection of poems that was chosen as the Hungarian Book of the Year in 2003. What is a storybook and where does it start when it is more than just a poem for children?
After a delicious sandwich lunch, the younger ones could take part in a drama lesson with our mentor, Sasha. Those who peeped in unsuspectingly quickly got into the mood and now guest and home together tried their hand at special rhythm and team-building games.
It was well into the afternoon when the open day drew to a close. The curious children left the building with sparkling eyes, engaging in deep conversations with their loved ones about how they had enjoyed themselves and what they thought of the sense of community that had welcomed them into our welcoming House. We can look back on another enjoyable day, hoping to see the visiting children again at the admissions, along with their other peers.
Jázmin Pretz, Kaposvár 2
