About our EVS

On September 3rd, 2014, Monika arrived as the first volunteer of our project this year in Panevėžys. One day later, Fine arrived, and on October 1st, Laia and Emily joined the group. For 10 months we are going to live together and work at the „Panevėžio „Šviesos“ Specialiojo Ugdymo Centras“, a special school for mentally and physically disabled children and teenagers. On the school‘s facebook page you can read about and see photos of their latest events: https://www.facebook.com/paneveziospecialioji.mokykl

The students of the school are divided into 3 different kinds of classes: special classes for students with slight mental disabilities, developmental classes for students with severe mental disabilities, and social classes for former students of the developmental classes who are prepared for a more independent living after school and where they practice to socialize with other people. As a whole, the school consists of 18 classes with approximately 140 students. Each class includes 5 to 10 students.

For the first month, we can visit a different class and afternoon and evening activity every day to get to know all the students and fields of work. Afterwards we will be able to choose one class and the after-school activities we want to support for the rest of the year. Additionally, every one of us can think of an own project to do with the students. We work about 6-7 hours per day, 5 days a week.

During our entire stay we are supported by our project team, which consists of Kristina, the deputy director of the school and our project coordinator, Rasa, consulting teacher and our mentor, Dovilė, the school's psychologist and our language teacher, and Artūras, the sports teacher of the school. With our project team we meet every other week to share and evaluate our experiences, talk about the upcoming weeks and plan our own projects. All four of us are very happy to have such a great and dedicated team, that we can not only ask for help but also joke around with. 

Fine