At its meeting of 25th March the Rotary Club of Anstruther was delighted to welcome Katie O’Donnell, who came to talk about her experiences as a ‘EuroScola’.
Katie, who is deputy head girl at Waid Academy, was sponsored by Anstruther club to visit Strasbourg from the 22nd to the 27th February as part of the EuroScola programme. It included time at the European Parliament. The selection process is demanding and Katie was competing against a record 42 final-year students from secondary schools across Scotland, with a final group being selected to join a total of 500 young people from 23 European member states.
Katie is studying Advanced Highers, including French and said she found the experience of working in that language hugely helpful to her self-confidence. One challenge was to work in a small group to produce and perform a dramatic sketch – in French. She explained how valuable she found the EuroScola experience as all formal activities are in French – including presentations and questions in L’Hemicycle - complete with headphones, translators and a large audience. Her topic was to discuss ‘The future of Europe’
We heard also of friendships made with other young people from across Europe, including Scandinavia and Eastern European nations and of the on-going friendships that developed as a group of strangers got to know one another and worked together.
It was intriguing to hear about the ‘Eurogame’ – a quiz of 15 questions, with each question in a different European language. There was also ‘Le Sondage’ which involves going out onto the streets of Strasbourg to interview passers-by about their understanding of Scotland. Katie pointed out that a few of the responses were quite startling!
But we heard too of sharing cultures; of music; of dining together – and even of an International Ceilidh. Altogether an experience that exceeded expectations. As Katie said, ‘Je vous remercie’
Following questions a warm vote of thanks was proposed by Andrew Lindsay, who made the point that our future is clearly in very safe hands.
