Schoolchildren need your help to travel to Vancouver for award ceremony, debates

Nine elementary and high school students from Belgrade, mainly the Drinka Pavlović elementary school, and their mentor, professor Marina Drndarski, have achieved remarkable success in a global essay competition on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal #15 – Life on Land. They now need financial assistance to travel to Vancouver for the award ceremony and debates on Life on Land, judged separately.

The topics of essays written by the Serbian schoolchildren, in English, were quite varied. One of the essays, authored by Ivan Filip Kovačević, who is attending the Gimnazija Plus high school, was written from the perspective of the griffon vulture living in the Uvac river gorge. The griffon vulture is a species whose extinction was averted in Serbia thanks to campaigning by ornithologists and other nature lovers.

Another interesting essay deals with possible technologies of the future, such as batteries producing electricity from air. Professor Drndarski tells Balkan Green Energy News that participation in the competition can help children decide on their future careers. Accordingly, we hope Stefanija Živanović, one of the two gold medalists from Serbia, will choose a visionary path in the future that will help achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Registration deadline expires on May 31

Balkan Green Energy News invites socially responsible companies and individuals to help Stefanija, her schoolmates, and their dedicated professor travel to Vancouver, Canada. The award ceremony and debates, hosted by the Canadian province of British Columbia, will take place in July. However, the registration deadline much earlier, on May 31.

Those interested in helping can contact the principal of the Drinka Pavlović elementary school.

Address:

Kosovska 19

11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Email:

drinkapavlovic@drinka.rs

Phone numbers:

Office: +381113238688

Principal: +381113243813

Fax: +381113243957

Drndarski, a biology teacher at the Drinka Pavlović elementary school, has been encouraging students to take part in this global competition, organized by the Trust for Sustainable Living, for four years now, each year with more success. This year’s nine finalists and honorable mentions from Serbia were selected among 1,470 young participants from 53 countries, Drndarski says.

The youngest participant from Serbia, who received an Honorable Mention, is 11-year-old Aleksandar Marković Ćorac. The names of other participants from Serbia who are finalists or have received Honorable Mentions are listed in the table available on the Trust for Sustainable Living’s website.