School: Rustavi, public school # 2
    Rustavi, Qvemo Qartli, Georgia

3 students, ages 16,17,17 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 24, 2009. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): 2009

Classes and Teachers: coach: Dali kharebashvili, students: Oliko, Teko, Bako

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://r-2.skola.dlf.ge/

1. Description of Our Team

Three students : Oliko (16 years old), Teko (17 years old) and Bako (17 years old) are involved in Doors to Diplomacy competition this year. We are classmates and have the experience of working together on several projects, that’s one of the reasons we decided to be the members of the same team. Besides, we think that the most important factors which unite us are: huge motivation, common interests and the excitement by “Doors to diplomacy” competition. Now, we can say proudly, without any exaggeration, that our team was the model of working friendly and coordinately. We strongly believed that our ideas were really interesting and what we were doing was unprecedented, so we didn’t need any forcing for working hard. We shared our ideas with each other and then tried to develop them together; when we had the idea and needed to come it true we began to divide jobs. We hadn’t the distinguished leader and none of us was sitting at the computer all the time, but for example, we had the moment when Oliko was holding the club meeting, Teko had a meeting with the sponsors and Badri was in the capital for site registration at the same time. We were acting as the situation demanded and each of us used to do the job which was most suitable for him/her at that particular moment. Our coach Mrs. Dali, really helped us to fulfill our goals. She gave us useful and necessary advices and used to come with us if we had to go for a long distance, like to the capital and other places… Mrs. Dali made us aware of “Doors to Diplomacy” competition and although she doesn’t know English contributed us as much as possible.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our web project is about the role of culture in Diplomacy. We’d like to show how countries can build better relationships trough sharing and promoting culture. We think that cultural exchanges are one of the best ways for improving diplomacy and the role of young generation in it can be quite huge. That’s why we decided to create Culture Club at our school. There are about 40 members, from 7 different school of our town, at our club, and this number is growing day by day. On our web you will find out how and why we, 3 students founded the club, what our first steps were, how we managed to promote our ideas and make our club known in the entire town, also how we managed to find lots of partners and sponsors and gathered about 1200$’s support for coming our ideas true. The name of our project is “CULTURE CLUB-youngsters for cultural exchanges” and we really managed to make that kind of exchanges. At our web-page you will see how we prepared and sent the information about our country to some people abroad, who made the presentation of that material in their country. You will see what people’s emotions about Georgia are; some of them are so fascinated by our country that they are going to visit us next summer. But the main goal of our web isn’t only the popularization of Georgian culture; we also learn the cultures of other countries. On the site there is how we organized the “Great presentation of March”, which was held in the big hall of Rustavi self-governing building and about which local TV made a report. During this activity the teams of 5 different schools compete with each other in representing the cultures of different countries.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

Although we have more than 20 computers at our computer class, we haven’t had internet since November, because of some changes in the Ministry of Science and Education of Georgia. Sometimes we could access only Georgian sites but even in this case connection was very slow and not sure. Not having internet at school was a great obstacle for our team. The only thing we could do was working at our homes.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

There were two basic barriers our team faced during this project, but we were so motivated nothing and nobody could stop us. The number first barrier for us was the technical problems- after about a week we decided to participate in “Doors to Diplomacy” competition internet was disconnected at schools of Georgia, so when we needed to work together we had to meet each other at another place; because of internet problem they weren’t able at schools to read our mails, where we asked members for our club. We had to come to schools and tell them about our initiation. Without internet problem our activities could be much more global. The basic changes in the Ministry of Science and Education of Georgia became a great obstacle for us. When “Doors to Diplomacy 2009” was announced they declared it to schools of Georgia. On the official site of Georgian state schools computerization program, called Deer Leap there is still written that they had appointed coordinator for international competitions and if any question or problem we could contact him/her. They also promised us to announce winners at national level and what is the most important, we hoped to have free web space till the last days as they promised us to give it for our projects. Finally it found out that we hadn’t had the coordinator since November and nobody gave us the space for our web project as the organization Deer Leap doesn’t exist anymore… the most tragical thing was that only before a week before the deadline, they told us that we should have continued working independently, so at the last days we had to find web space ourselves and it made us quite nervous, because we were afraid, we wouldn’t be able to fulfill our project till the deadline.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

It’s the first time students from Georgia are the participant of such global, international competition as it is “Doors to Diplomacy”. We could realize that in this competition we were the representatives of our country, region and school. It was a great responsibility and we tried to do our best.

6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

We gained lots of skills and got huge knowledge during the working process for our Doors to Diplomacy project. This project grew self-confident in us as we saw how much can be done by just ordinary students if there is willing and motivation. We got a special experience of working in group and collaboration. We, 3 students planned and organized as global activity as it was “The great presentation of March”, formed the club at our school and learned how to promote our ideas. We also learned writing the project, finding partners, sponsors and earning the finances for coming our ideas true. Now we know how to overcome obstacles and continue working. Besides gaining such useful skills we realized the importance of cultural relations and intercultural dialogue in improving diplomacy. We learned more about the culture of our and other countries and besides, improved our English. We gained lots of computer skills as well, like it is creating webs and effective research of information. Finally, we would like to say that working on such kind of project showed us advantages of modern methods of teaching. As we were allowed to create web about what we were eager and to put the material, we thought was interesting and important, it opened the doors of our fantasy and we had a storm of original ideas. We were really active and hard-working because we were doing what we were interested in. So, we found out that working on web projects is much more interesting and effective than traditional methods of learning and teaching.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?

We used various information tools and technologies for fulfilling our Doors to Diplomacy project. The most helpful technologies were: computers, digital cameras and mobile phones. We think it’s easy to guess why we mentioned computers first. We needed computers with internet for researching information, creating webs, making slide- shows and presentations; it was also the way of communication. We used digital cameras very often, almost all the photos and videos which we used on our web project are taken by digital camera (which we won in our last project) and “The great presentation of March” is recorded by professional video camera. As we were the coordinators of Culture Club our phones had never stopped. Sometimes we used them for arranging next club meeting, sometimes for getting know if our project won finances and sometimes for calling our parents and telling them to calm down because although it was 8p.m. we were together , preparing for future events. Projectors and USB flash drives were very helpful as well. At club meetings we often used projectors for showing what we were talking about and at “The great presentation of March” we used it very effectively. As for the USB flash drivers, they were the fastest and the most convenient ways of carrying and changing information. We used lots of other information tools and technologies to complete our “Doors to Diplomacy” project: printers for printing the booklets and texts, oral interviews for getting know people’s opinion, scanners, Xerox apart … another important source of information for our team were the libraries, books and newspapers; We went to the capital city, Tbilisi, twice to visit the public library of Georgia and we are still impressed by the unique books and letters we saw there.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.

“Culture Club-youngsters for cultural exchanges”-it’s the name of our web project. Yes, for improving cultural relations and diplomacy between Georgia and other countries we were the “ambassadors “of our country; we really found some partners abroad who agreed with us to make the presentation of Georgian culture in their countries. We managed lots of people to find out and learn more about our country and we aren’t going to stop; we have much more global plans and we strongly believe we’ll fulfill them, because our ideas had been shared and approved, our actions had a great impact on local community; now we have several partners with whom we will improve this world and show that cultural dialogue is the key for living in harmony! Even only the fact that you can see a long list of sponsors and partners on our web project and that we managed to gather about 1200# support for our project indicates that our ideas had been shared and approved. When we used to show our project to potential sponsors they couldn’t hide their excitement. Almost each of them told us that they were glad, because there were such active, motivated youngsters in their country with so nice ideas and that they would gladly help us. Once, we received the letter from “European Youth Parliament in Georgia” where was written that they were fascinated by our ideas and would be glad if such activities would be held all over Georgia. They told us that our letter showed them the intellectual potential of our town. Besides, people from the schools of Poland, Los-Angeles, Pakistan and Singapore sent us letters where they asked us to tell them about us and our project, because they wanted to put that information on their official web-sites and continue partnership with us.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Our project had a great impact on people. First we were 3 students, desired to participate in “Doors to Diplomacy” competition and finally we managed, that our ideas and project is known not only in almost entire town, but in other regions of Georgia and even abroad. Under our project we founded Culture Club at our school. We interested other youngsters and now there are about 40 active members from 7 different schools of Rustavi, at our club. We think, discus, enjoy together and what is the most important plan and organize several original activities for showing that the role of youngsters in improving relationships between the societies of different countries can be quite important. On 10 March our club organized the competition between schools named “The great presentation of March”. This event was held in the big hall of self-governing building of Rustavi town and was attended by about 1000 people besides participants. Local TV broadcast made a special report about our activity and it gave us a unique opportunity to make our club and project well-known all over the town. Besides our town, our project has sponsors and partners from all over Georgia. Our partner quite prestigious and well-known organizations in Georgia sent their representatives at “The great presentation of March” and they were impressed by our initiation. As the motto for our club is “youngsters for cultural exchanges”, we got several partners abroad. For example, after the presentation of Georgian culture in Poland, they sent us photos where guys in their hands had posters where was written the words :“I love Culture Club”. Poland isn’t the only one, people from Singapore, USA, Scotland, Iraq, Pakistan, Tajikistan know about our project, and not just know but they tell about it to other people in their countries.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

For showing the role of young generation in improving diplomacy by cultural exchanges we decided to found Culture Club at our school and involve in it as much youngsters as possible. We managed to promote our ideas and interest people, now we are about 40 members at club. We want to thank them for being so active, it was pleasure for us to think and discus with them; we showed together what young generation can do if we have motivation. We would like to give a big thank to our sponsors and partners: Heidelbergcement Georgia and it’s Director Mr. Mamuka who financed “The great presentation of March” and even future club projects!Our thanks to National Georgian institute “Rvali” and it’s founder Mr.Nugzar who also sponsored our initiation and to the hall of Rustavi, they were the first, who approved our project. We are very grateful of the companies and organizations who gave the prizes to the winners and participants of “The great presentation”. They are: Publishing house “Bakur Sulakauri”, Georgian Association of Educational Initiations (SIQA), Rustavi Historical Museum, Company- “Kazbegi”, Cinema- “Rustaveli”, the debate club of Tbilisi State University of Economic Relations. We want also to thank the administrator of the forum of Rustavi (rustavelebi.ge), who opened the category -“Culture Club” there just for our club. We would like to give a big thank to Mr. leqso who took the video of “The great presentation of March”. We are extremely grateful of our coach Mrs. Dali, who did her best to help us and of our school, which encouraged us all the time. And finally a huge thank to Doors to diplomacy project organizers. Although all the ideas here are ours, we don’t think we would ever think about the role of culture in diplomacy so deeply without their encouragement.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Unfortunately, our country hasn’t much experience of participating in international projects. It’s the first time we take part in such global competition as it is Doors to Diplomacy and it is a great challenge for us. We were hugely motivated, doing our best to achieve our goals. Although we still haven’t done even half of what we are going to do yet, we can say proudly that we are satisfied by what we managed to do. We can’t express what a big changes happened in us in these few months. Now we are more self-confident and believe that everything can be done if there is desire to do. Now, when we are to finish our Doors to Diplomacy project we can say without any exaggeration, that it was the most active, adventurous and pleasantly difficult months of our life. Now, we can say that we were right when we choose the category of Arts and Culture and wrote our project about the role of culture in diplomacy because, even only from our experience we see that cultural relations and exchanges can really make this world better place to live. By means of this Doors to Diplomacy project we discovered the best thing one can ever do-we found out that the entire world, with its people is just wonderful. This project made us ready to get on with every kind of person, because we learnt respecting the “different”. We are ready to live peacefully in cultural diversity and not just live, but create something new, something valuable together!