Young volunteers' certificate excitement

20.06.2024

Young volunteers' certificate excitement

Volunteer students of the "People First at Different Geographies" project, implemented by Yeşim Group to raise awareness of volunteerism and social responsibility among young people, received their certificates at the closing event held at Yeşim Academy.

Şükrü Şankaya Anatolian High School (ŞŞAL), Private 3 Mart Ulviye - Ziya Gökalp Özer Anatolian High School and Private 3 Mart Halil Güleç Science High School students, who participated in the 2023-2024 academic year and successfully completed the term, received their certificates at a special ceremony organized at Yeşim Academy.
The 2023-2024 academic year of the "People First at Every Geographies" project, which was shaped by the initiative of Yeşim Group and coordinated by Bursa Contemporary Education and Culture Foundation (ÇEKVAK), has ended. A total of 67 volunteer students have participated in the project this year.
The certificate ceremony held at Yeşim Academy was attended by Mehmet Balkaya, Bursa Provincial Directorate of National Education Branch Manager in charge of Secondary Education, Yeşim Group Human Resources and Organizational Development VP Behiç Gülşen, Yeşim Group Corporate Communications Director Dilek Cesur, Bursa Contemporary Education and Culture Foundation (ÇEKVAK) Chairman Ali Kara, Contemporary Education Cooperative Vice Chairperson Süheyla Toppamuk and Project Coordinator Prof. Dr. Rüyam Küçüksüleymanoğlu, Yeşim Ömeroğlu Ünlü, Principal of Şükrü Şankaya Anatolian High School and Kaan Selçuk, Principal of Private 3 Mart Anatolian - Science High School.

Mehmet Balkaya, Bursa Provincial Directorate of National Education Branch Manager in charge of Secondary Education, stated that we all have a responsibility towards this world and said: "We should all fulfill our duties properly because we all have responsibilities towards this environment and this world. It is a very meaningful and really valuable approach for a business to carry out such social responsibility projects in addition to its main activities. I am delighted that our young people are involved in such a project. I am proud of them as their older brother."

Underlining that Yeşim Group has been acting with the philosophy of "People First" since the day it was founded, Yeşim Group Corporate Communications Director Dilek Cesur said, "With this project, we aimed to combine Yeşim's founder Şükrü Şankaya's philanthropic approach with social responsibility and volunteerism awareness to give young people in high school a lifelong sustainable sense of responsibility. The project not only supported learning and mutual empowerment between organizations, but also paved the way for peer-to-peer experience sharing. Children in public schools do not have access to these experiences, which are subject to a fee in private schools. In this sense, the project is of great importance to ensure experiential equality."
Ali Kara, Chairman of Bursa Contemporary Education Cooperative (ÇEKVAK), said, "As the Bursa Contemporary Education and Culture Foundation, we are very pleased to take part in this project on behalf of both our students and teachers. Every project that involves people is very valuable for us. No matter who they are, what they are, where they are from, what structure they are from, they are valuable. We are very powerful together. For this reason, everyone should support and lend a hand to everyone."

Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Education Lecturer and project coordinator Prof. Dr. Rüyam Küçüksüleymanoğlu said, "The main goal of the project was to raise awareness of high school students on social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, multiculturalism, digital competencies and 21st century skills and to enable each student to produce projects both individually and with teammates. Within the scope of the project, each student individually received 53 hours of training and 120 hours of volunteering.  They carried out 10 different social responsibility projects in the field. They received 21 hours of mentoring and met and exchanged ideas with 14 different NGOs. In this project, which continued throughout the school term, we were incredibly happy to see the difference between the point where our students started and the point they reached and to realize the values that the project added to them."