We`re back in business !!!

What`s up man? It`s me… The Voice… I`m here to tell you that the center is really starting those activities you`ve been waiting for.

The clubs are set, so get down to room 17 in the following circumstances :

• The ones interested in public speaking : 9th and 10th graders come and sign up on Tuesdays at 9:45 ; 11th and 12th graders come on Wednesdays at 13:50.
• If debate grasps you come and see us on Saturdays at 14:00. It`s for everybody.

• For people concerned that Forum Theater and Impact Theater aren`t starting well… you can chill because the fun starts on Fridays at 17:30. Anyone can come.

So… what are you waiting for… go to room 17 at the specified time and date and let`s have fun and CARE together !

If you find this hard to understand just e-mail one of the people at your service or give the map a try… Maybe that will help you. The map !!!

Public space project

Hey ! It`s the Voice again… This is what happened on 1-2 Oct 2007. We are sorry you`ve missed all the fun but what can we do… we told you it was happening but you did not want to come.

Just to make you understand a bit about what happened here is a short history of the two days : We are a bunch of people, that got together to show the world that no matter how different we are there are hard to break ties between all of us. Here are some of the characters played there : a gypsy woman, a HIV positive woman, a gay man, a sniffer boy, an artist, a pensionara, a politician, a refugee, a nationalist, a catholic, an atheist, a rocker, a manelista, an orthodox, an ordinary person and an anarchist + some pictures to show you how much fun we had getting rid of our prejudice. Click on them to see more !

What do we do?

• Hello ! It`s me… that feeble voice inside your head, at your service, any time and any hour. You`ve already met the CARE center, you know a little about where it is, people implicated, but it`s my duty to tell you a more about all the great stuff the center does.

• The Center for Action and Responsibility in Education operates from the premises of the National Bilingual College George Cosbuc and it was established in order to provide Cosbuc students, teachers, parents with opportunities for scholastic improvement, talent development and community involvement.

• We propose to help maintain Cosbuc at the forefront of Romanian education, by supporting all stakeholders’ initiatives aimed at improving our community.

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  We are alumni-driven, friends-driven and very self-driven, which makes most of our activities self-sustainable! No less than six clubs meet weekly at the Center, all cost-free. Not to mention our larger initiatives, such as the Who Cares Awards, by which we propose to give recognition and repay the ones who made our community a better place.
  

• The Center was set up with support from the US Department of State, through a small grant administered by the Public Diplomacy Section of the US Mission Romania.

• If you wish to join us or find out more about us, just drop by at room 17 or send an e-mail to the ones at your service anytime you wish.

• Hyde Park Public Speaking Club

  Smarts Ltd. Debate Club

  The Literary Workshop for English Writers

  The Literary Workshop for Romanian Writers

  Forum Theater IMPACT

  Sweet Fridays

  Volunteering for Different Projects

  Yearly NGO fair

  The Who Cares Awards

  Photo Gallery

  CARE flyers

  Bloggers and artists we like

  Latest news

  1. Public speaking : Public speaking at Cosbuc goes back to the mid-late 90’s.

  • Mihaela Cucu was the first Cosbuc student to win the National Public Speaking Competition organized by the English Speaking Union. That was in 1997 – or was it 1998?… Mihaela went on to represent Romania at the International Public Speaking Competition held in London. A couple of years later we had Irina Gligor, who won the Best Non-Native Speaker Award, then we had Dinu Popa and then, in 2004, we had the brilliant Cosma Fulga.

  • In between and after that, we have created a school of public speaking that has benefited tens of young people, and not only in terms of rhetorical skills. Our members were at the forefront of civic action in Cosbuc, through their involvement with Anticorruption Citizens Group AICI. Hyde Park members and coaches have fuelled much energy and resources into what eventually became the Center for Action and Responsibility in Education.

  • In about 2002, Hyde Park began to organize its own public speaking tournaments, involving students from Cosbuc, Spiru, Iulia Hasdeu and even some university students. Themes have ranged from corruption to adoptions, terrorism to globalization, diversity to youth culture.

  • Notable personalities have accepted to sit on our juries along the years: Radu Florescu, Lucian Mandruta, Tom Delare, Codru Vrabie, Bob Gilchrist. The importance of the themes tackled, problems poised and solutions discussed has led to increased cooperation and growing support of important organizations such as Transparency International, The International Organization for Migration, The Media Monitoring Agency, The US Mission in Romania, Peace Corps, USAID, Population Services International.

  • Hyde Park holds two events every academic year, the first in November/December and the second one in May/June. Generally these events have been interscholastic public speaking competitions or, more recently, standup comedy shows.

  • In the academic year 2006-2007 Hyde Park has organized a public speaking competition entitled “A Romanian’s New Year Resolution.” The competition took place on 15 December and it was judged by the honourables Krisztina Pinter from Peace Corps, Bill Conn from John Snow Intl and Vlad Hatieganu from The Romanian Ministry for European Integration.

  • In semester 1 of the current academic year, we also started coaching members for the Monologue Competition organized by the English Drama Association on the theme “You have to be the change you wish to see in the world.” The competition has a local, municipal and national level.

  • In semester 2 of the current academic year, Hyde Park coached for the competition organized by the Association for Debate and Public Speaking in English, on the theme of love. Also, we had a standup comedy show in conjunction with the Who Cares Awards, too bad some of you missed it!

    Happy public speaking!

  2. Debate : Cosbuc has a history of Karl-Popper debate that goes back to the mid 90’s. Some of our alumni have even gone on to work for ARDOR, the national debate association!
  

• We owe the rebirth of debate at Cosbuc to a handful of very ambitious people who won a debate competition organized by the Roma Development Agency Impreuna in cooperation with Primaria sector 2, in December 2006. They had been coaching for only a couple of months, but they were the stars of the event!

• Then they managed, this time in a different team, to participate in the regional where after only 4 days of training they succeeded to make a very good impression.

• So because they were hot with success, they nagged and pushed and pulled and here we have a debate club all over again!

3. Volunteering : Are you thinking about dedicating some of your free time and resources to an organization/program? Well, we can help you.

• Here are some organizations we can hook you up with this academic year:

  • SAVE THE CHILDREN, an important organization who needs volunteers for programs aimed at assisting underprivileged children.
  • CREATIV, an organization providing play therapy to disfavoured children and families
  • TOUCHED ROMANIA, an organization assisting children who spend long periods of time in hospital or other state institutions
  • ACTOR, an organization assisting terminally-ill children with play therapy, origami and drama

  • BARAKA, an association using art and drama to address important issues in today’s society.

• Also, CARE organizes an NGO fair every October/November, so as to offer Cosbuc students and excellent organizations a chance to connect and work together in the future.

• Here are some organizations that have attended our fairs and recruited Cosbuc volunteers in the past: ARAS, POPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, ACCEPT, FUNDATIA INOCENTI, TINERI PENTRU TINERI, SECS.

• We thank you for considering volunteer work and wish you the best of luck in the future!

Hello ! Welcome !

• Hello! Either a fresher or not, you should at least know that you are a student at George Cosbuc. Cosbuc is an awesome high-school which offers a huge amount of opportunities to step up and show the world what you are made of. You may know all these things since you`ve made the decision to spend the next 4 years in this place.
• Now let me tell you something not many people know: There are a lot of literary circles and all kinds of meetings and gatherings but, by far the most important [ ) ] is the Center of Action and Responsibility in Education aka CARE. In other words, this center`s goal is to educate, help you and to teach students all about the wonders of responsibility. I am the voice of this center, which has as a permanent headquarters room 17; the principal knows all about the things we do ( so we are legal ) and through this voice
• I am calling you out and inviting you to participate in as many projects as possible because they are very interesting, interactive and above all they won`t make you regret the time and energy invested into a certain activity.
• So feel free to come to the center ( room 17 ) or ask the ones at your service, at any time about this productive way of spending your excessive free time… We CARE… Do YOU CARE? Let`s CARE TOGETHER then !