“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead

Recently in Romania, I experienced a school where a powerful sense of purpose infused every part of the community. Like a pixel in a 3D image that contains the essence of the whole picture, when an organisation truly lives its values, those pixels are everywhere, each one contributing to the bigger vision.

At Avenor College in Bucharest, purpose is visible in every corner, every decision, every relationship. It shows in the colours and learning spaces, in the pride of students and staff, and in the celebration of alumni whose impact continues far beyond the school.

The school was founded by a small band of mothers, not content with the one size fits all education that had been in place for decades. They did not want their children to go through a system that pushed them out at the end disengaged and lacking initiative or creativity. They wanted to create a school that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking, gave agency, created caring and meaningful relationships. Avenor College was born in 2013, out of a little kindergarten and primary school started by that same band of mothers in 2003.

One of the co-founders Diana Segarceanu is a leader whose Ferocious Warmth envelops you as soon as you meet her. Her warmth and compassion, coupled with her fierce determination to lead a school that lives this original purpose and evolves with the world’s context, is evident in every part of her character.

Romania’s education system remains largely traditional, with compliance often valued over creativity. It is struggling to emerge out of an autocratic style of education. The minister of education Professor Daniel David is not a politician, but a professor of positive psychology trying to bring about change in a very resistant environment.

Through the synchronicity of timing, we were able to hear the minister speak at a learning conference at the school. When the students asked him how he deals with the ‘haters’ of this agenda (of which there are many) he simply said: ‘I don’t let them worry me. I know that my values protect me.

His educational reform agenda in government schools echoes the hopes of those mothers who years ago had a vision, and the educators who took that vision on in Avenor.

 

THE VOICE OF THE STUDENTS

One of the many highlights was spending time listening to the student council giving us an overview of the projects that run at the school. Not just projects, but interwoven student-led initiatives that support the school’s purpose to build adventure, agency, social impact and entrepreneurial thinking. The succession planning and project reflection the students build into their approach to the projects every year ensures not only the sustainability of the projects, but also the continued evolution of them.

Here are some examples:

TedX Youth at Avenor – the students work with the TedX setup, criteria and licence requirements. They set the theme and source speakers. Each year they take the learnings from the previous year, look at the statistics and continue to iterate their business case for the next event.

24 hour Business Challenge – This challenge is a student-led project that involves a 24 hours challenge for teams of students what have to come with a business plan prompted by a brief they received on the day. Starting in its first year with only 3 eager students and a mentor teacher, this grew to 25 last year and even more on track for year 3.

I love the reflections of Iaono, a current Year 12 student who initiated the project in Year 10:

‘Once I started thinking about entrepreneurship, the ideas followed naturally and the concept of the event came up during one of my many brainstorming sessions in the hallways with Mr Brebete.

My motivation for organising a business challenge came from the desire to bring together the school community in an entrepreneurial context where the broad concept of ‘business’ could be dissected and understood on a deeper level.’

Täşulease Social – The main social impact enterprise that the school supports in any funds raised by these projects and beyond. The students are passionate about this organisation and many have spent time there helping revitalise heavily polluted areas, regenerating a walking trail through Romania, building houses. https://www.tasuleasasocial.ro/en/

The students are clear about their purpose, their WHY on the involvement with this movement (these are created by the students, not by the teachers):

• Encourage an entrepreneurial mindset
• Raise awareness globally about Romania
• Sense of belonging to the project
• Amazing volunteering opportunity
• Connect with nature and build health habits by participating in outdoor activities
• Meet new people from across the world
• Learn about the history of our country

They are also passionate about encouraging people to come to Romania. The walking trail that runs throughout the country sounds like a perfect trip for the hikers reading this story!

There are more projects, that often involved the whole school, such as the Christmas fair, but I’m sure you get the idea.

The resounding message from all the students:

 

WE SEEK TO BUILD SOMETHING GREATER THAN US.

 

And there it is….. this school radiates with purpose beyond everyone’s personal learning journey. Not only is there a commitment to learning, but a strong care, connection and compassion for and with each other. This is coupled with a deep commitment to creating a better world. Relationships, connection, community.

This intentionality could be seen in the interactions between students, the corridor conversations, learning spaces and the learning approach in the classrooms. It could be seen in the systems, structures and design of the learning spaces. Both head and heart – of course.

Purpose – it’s talked about a lot, copious amounts in fact. Purpose can be a useful term to trot out when suits, then put it quietly away when things are getting hard. For those of us in education and health, it’s not enough to say we’re clear on our purpose. The real work is in how it shows up daily, individually and collectively. Misalignment often hides in that gap.

The courage and the tenacity of the students and the teachers at Avenor to stay true to their purpose will continue to inspire me.

At Avenor I saw:

The Power of Purpose

The Energy of the Environment

The Kindness of People

Witnessing such deep commitment to students and their learning in Romania has been a true gift.

More reflections from this inspiring tour soon.