The first ENSA online conference was held on 10 and 11 July with 35 participants. The title of the conference was "Com*mit: Come along: In partnership through the crisis and beyond").
Small groups initially focused on how school partnerships can be continued in corona times. They discussed how to keep in touch even though no educational trips can take place this year, and how each individual can help shape the school partnership even during the pandemic. "At the moment everything is very uncertain because of corona," laments Lucy Wogirz from year 11 at the Paul Gerhardt School Dassel, which has a partnership with Goibei Girls High School in Vihiga County, Kenya. That's why she was pleased that the summer conference took place despite Corona. "This provides certainty that things will continue and that there's a common thread."
Another topic was: "Talking about school exchanges - but how? Discrimination-sensitive public relations work of international school partnerships in social media". Small groups worked with posts by the satirical Instagram account "Barbie Savior". Especially the group of school students had a lot to contribute to the topic and plenty of own experiences to talk about. "The choice of topics was really good - Instagram in particular is something very important for our generation," concludes Lucy.
And as far as the ENSA online summer conference is concerned, many participants thought that there were also many advantages, as you don't have to travel long distances and can participate from your computer at home.
