At the beginning of November, we were lucky to bring together 7 HundrED Youth Ambassadors in Helsinki for the HundrED Youth Summit and HundrED Innovation Summit! Read what Wilma Engström, HundrED Youth Ambassador from Finland had to say about her experience!
All good things must come to an end, and so did sadly the HundrED Youth Summit and Innovation Summit as well.
The first couple of days was for us Youth Ambassadors spent at Supercell. The common thoughts going through or minds was a combination of “this is the coolest office ever” and “this is like a playground for adults”. Needless to say, we absolutely enjoyed our visit there. The number of unbelievable things we got to experience throughout the Helsinki Education Week and HundrED Innovation Summit was almost hard to get a grasp on. We got to meet the Helsinki Youth Council members and it was seriously intriguing to find out how Finland hears the voices of the Youth in general as well as how the City Council would like to involve youth voice more in the decision making process.
We got to hold a World Café workshop at Supercell, where we highlighted certain issues we have in education in our various countries right now. The overall response from the educators was terrific and they were actively participating in our discussions. It was a marvelous feeling, knowing that they genuinely were interested in what we wanted to say and that was a feeling that lasted throughout the week as well. At all times you felt that people wanted to listen to what you as a young person had to say.
Something positively surprising was the general hospitality and inclusiveness of everyone we met over the week. You got along with everyone, no matter from which country, or what religion the person belonged to. Everyone was incredibly positive, you could literally walk up to anyone and have a great conversation.
Listening to brilliant innovators talk passionately about their innovations was truly mesmerizing, you could tell that they had a burning desire for what they do. There’s no wonder why the hundred innovations selected to the HundrED 2020 Global Collection has been named as “A HundrED Education Innovations That Could Change The World” by Forbes Magazine. The passionate and hard work of the innovators pays off, by changing the world, piece by piece and there’s no doubt that HundrED helps by giving these great innovations a bigger platform.
Having the HundrED Innovation Summit and Helsinki Education Week at the same time was a truly great idea. Thanks to this everyone traveling to Finland to attend the Summit, could also participate in Helsinki Education Week events and go visit Finnish schools and different kinds of workshops and truly see the Finnish education system in action.
As I already mentioned in the beginning, all good things must come to an end, but the memories and everything experienced during the week is something I assume everyone is going to carry with them for quite some time. I know for sure I will.
To relive all the action from the HundrED Innovation Summit, click here.
