Junior Development Labs

Junior Development Labs is an unique educational project started by Romanian students in the United Kingdom and targeting high school students from all over Romania. Aiming to provide equal and free access to resources and a real chance of involvement and contribution to the community for Romanian students between 13 and 18 years old, the project comes with a series of events and programmes designed in an user-centred and practical manner.

The core programme is the Summer School taking place on an year basis between August and September. During the Summer School students gather from various universities and study fields, both from Romania and abroad and mentor the high school students interested in their work and knowledge. Every mentor proposes one or more projects which involves knowledge gained during the high school classes but applies this knowledge in the most practical and effective way, in the same time making use of university-specific development methodologies and tools. The youth applies to these projects and gets to work along with the students during the summer. In this way high school students get valuable insight from their prefered study fields and universities and have the satisfaction of accomplishing their own work. The Summer School is now preparing for the second edition.

JDTalks is the second most important project consisting in a series of conference-like events where students from all over the country and abroad are invited to give a 15 minutes talk each in front of the high school students. The theme of the conferences is always the same: the importance of their involvement and the importance of networking for achieving great results. The talks are calls for action and they inspire young people to act and to have the courage to create, discuss and have their say in the community, in this way making a difference and contributing towards a better future.

Along with these projects, Junior Development Labs organises recreational events of which the most recent one is a Pop Quiz. These events aim to build up a stronger sense of community and facilitate networking and collaboration among young people in Romania, inviting them to take action and get involved in other, more serious and intellectual activities.

Junior Development Labs aims to bring a new vision and mentality to the actual Romanian youth community and to inspire people to actively contribute to their own development and to the development of the community and society by giving them the power to act and by listening to their say. All the people involved in this project are volunteering students from Romania and from the United Kingdom who dedicate their time and effort in order to see a better community and a better society.

We have big future plans: increasing the capacity of our conferences by bringing in valuable speakers and conditioning the actual theatre (speakers need accommodation and transportation, the theatre needs lighting and sound solutions, etc.), founding a research department in collaboration with the biggest polytechnic university in Romania (we need spaces and equipment) and many more, and we need your help! We have already accomplished a lot with our very little but things are getting more serious now! We think big and we take our duty seriously! Please help us to run Junior Development Labs by donating as much as you consider. By donating you contribute not only to our goal, but to an entire community’s development and well being and you will be remembered!

Thank you!

Alexandru N. Onea