Eco-pens in Savremena: Making pens from recycled newspapers and selling them for charity

Savremena Gimnazija, as an Eco-School, constantly strives to work with students on raising awareness of the importance of preserving the environment.

For that cause, teachers Tamara Rajinac, Zorana Milićević and Milica Aleksić, as part of the topic of Ecology in the Global Perspectives and English classes, implemented the project "Eco-pens".

Namely, after the students got acquainted with the most important ecological terms and problems, researched the greenhouse effect, climate change, global warming, renewable and non-renewable energy sources and recycling, they were given the task of making pens from recycled newspapers. For this activity, they mostly used the magazine LICEULICE, which teachers normally buy and use in their classes, because the magazine represents an exceptional example of social entrepreneurship and concern for vulnerable groups of people in our community. Therefore, the students got acquainted with their mission and concept of work and became aware of the need to help people who need it.

All the money collected goes to charity

Given that Earth Day was celebrated on Saturday, 22 April, we wanted to connect our project with that date, so from Monday, 24 April, we started broadcasting a promotional video, which aims to motivate students to buy pencils made by their friends and help someone in that way, because all the money collected goes to charity – pointed out teacher Tamara Rajinac.

Extending the life of newsprint by creating new, useful objects

The idea came from the everyday situation where students don’t have pencils or their pencils are worn out. Many companies promote their social responsibility by having recycled paper pens with their logo. We realised that our students can do it themselves, and in that way, extend the life of newsprint, make a new, useful object, but also help others through a modest monetary donation, said teacher Milica Aleksić.

What follows is a project that includes research work in the field of biomaterials

Art teacher Zorana Milićević points out: Students like to work on projects in which they see value, purpose and a clear goal, and for this reason, we constantly try to prepare something new and interesting for them. We are already working on a new idea which includes research work in the field of biomaterials and we will hopefully implement it before the end of the school year.

We invite all schools to implement this same project with their students and do more good deeds in this way.

I am extremely pleased and proud to be the parent of a Savremena student. During my first encounter with the school management, when I asked about my child’s potential enrolment, I saw how much love, enthusiasm and professionalism you put in your work. I was impressed by your approach, ideas and methods. I couldn’t believe something like this existed in our country! It doesn’t take long to realise that this is a school you would recommend to everyone. Creativity, modern technology, top-quality education, and most of all, the humaneness that can be seen throughout the school, make it truly different and worthy of its name – Savremena Gimnazija. With such an approach, the success of this school and, consequently, our children’s success, is unavoidable. Congratulations! Jelena Đorđević, Andrija’s mum
Contemporary in any sense of the word, our school offers functional knowledge and quality preparation for tertiary education in Serbia and abroad. Implementing modern and creative teaching in the classroom, where the teachers’ pedagogy and students’ performance are aligned with the highest academic standards for the high-school finals, our school develops linguistic, mathematical, scientific, artistic, cultural, technical and ICT competence, which is a prerequisite for further education and professional development. Teaching is supported by the interactive whiteboards and educational software, whereas practice exercises research and critical thinking.