I was a child who never had a problem answering the question “What do you want to be when you grow up? ”. The answer was always the same, in an immediate and consistent way. Until the day when, around the age of 17, I slept, as usual, dreaming of Medical School. I woke up, however, without any dreaminess: reality showed me that no, I didn’t actually want to be a doctor.
I went through an extremely difficult year: how to prepare for a College entrance exam if I didn’t even know in which gap, among so many courses, to mark the “X”? (Yes, in 2000, we filled in the entrance exams using pen and paper!)
Twenty-two years and three graduations later, here I am in this profession that I daily fall in love with– and that I never considered during the first years of my life.
And looking at our students, on a daily basis, I realize how the same dilemma, the same difficulties with studies, the same desperation takes over each of them during the pre-university process (even though they now make absolutely every choice online).
That’s how we came up with the idea of a program that would help them gradually, from the 2nd grade of High School onwards. So, GaBaritar Program was born, with its after-school classes. We started with the dreaded Exact Sciences, approaching Maths, Chemistry and Physics, but we will gradually introduce Languages and Human Sciences as well.
At the same time, the life project of each of our teenagers is being worked on in weekly classes. Subjects such as career, skills, preferences and aptitudes are brought up as soon as High School begins, so that this whole process is as less traumatic and as natural as possible.
More than just passing the exams, our program aims to help our students to grow and be protagonists in their lives – this ones, without any pre-determined answers.
Written by: Renata Pedroso – Green Book School’s Elementary School (Final Years) and High School Educational Coordinator.
