As the mind develops, so does the heart

Dulambayar, a 16-year-old student at the 1st School of Sumber soum in Gobisumber aimag, shared her inspiring story with us. Among the 1,000 students at her school, she once struggled with the fear of public speaking and self-doubt. She used to believe that she couldn’t speak in front of many people and was too shy and quiet. However, through her participation in the ESEL program, Dulambayar gained valuable insights into personal development, ultimately overcoming her initial reservations and achieving remarkable growth.

In 2019, as a 7^th-grade student, N. Dulambayar became the youngest member of the school’s “Young Journalist” student club. Inspired by the dedication and expertise of her class teacher and club facilitator, B. Yanjinsuren, she felt a sense of pride. She also admired the competence of older students in preparing school news and informational content.

She likely felt that way because she was just beginning her studies and was still learning how things worked. In 2020, Save the Children implemented the Entrepreneurship-Focused Socio-Emotional Skills For The Most Vulnerable Youth In Rural Mongolia project at the 1st School of Sumber soum in Gobisumber aimag. Many older students from senior classes took part in this project and, upon graduation, went on to implement numerous interesting projects.

Dulambayar became acquainted with the fascinating projects initiated and executed by the senior class students. Intrigued by the activities of the ESEL program and the process of developing project proposals, she felt a sense of pride witnessing their growth and transformation. Recognizing the value of attending ESEL courses and aspiring to develop herself like her peers, Dulambayar made a decision to pursue personal development through the ESEL program.

In the spring of 2022, Dulamsuren applied to attend the training and was accepted into the ESEL training program. She not only attended the training sessions and focused on personal development. Additionally, Dulamsuren and her team collaborated to develop a project proposal for publishing a school newspaper called “Beetle.” Although their initial proposal was not selected, the team remained resilient, learned from their mistakes, and improved their project proposal. They participated in the grant competition for a second time and emerged victorious, securing 2.8 million MNT.

The project team produces three distinct issues of the children’s newspaper “Beetle” every quarter, catering to elementary, middle, and high school students respectively. The newspaper reaches every student in the school. N. Dulambayar serves as the communication manager for the “Beetle” project, responsible for gathering news content and managing the layout and design of the newspaper.

The team aspires to expand the “Beetle” newspaper, collecting and disseminating aimag and local news, with the goal of becoming the aimag-level children’s publication. Dulambayar remarked, “Attending this training has allowed me to grow and develop in various aspects. Our participation club initially produced videos and content, but has now expanded to publishing a monthly school newspaper. This demonstrates our dedication to building our skills and capacity through hard work and commitment. Throughout this journey, I feel that not only have I developed personally and mentally, but my heart has also grown through the ESEL program.”

It reminds Dulamsuren that with each new task comes additional goals, aspirations, and efforts. It underscores the importance of working harder and continually developing oneself to meet these challenges.

By the way, students of the 1st School of Sumber soum in Gobisumber aimag are successfully implementing the following 15 micro-projects: “Sun of Mind,” “Healthy Cabin,” “Digital Story,” “EVA,” “Little Dreamer,” “Little Teachers,” “Beetle” newspaper, “Magic Box,” “Expert Mongolians,” “Little Scientists,” “Eternal Writing,” “Movie Club,” “Elite,” “Handcrafting,” and “Speech Art.”