Notable Student Leader Projects

february 2015 - a week full of love, pies, and donations

By Viktor Stoilov

From the 9th to the 13th of February, the Speech and Debate team of FLHS “Acad. L. Stoyanov” organized the first annual “Week of Love”.  The main goal of the event was to  raise 500 lv for the Speech and Debate team. We sold numerous delicious cookies, cakes, pieces of banitsa, Valentine’s greetings, and other treats. But that wasn’t all. There was one thing which made everybody excited. Throughout the week, raffle tickets were sold for the chance to hit me (Viktor Stoilov) and our amazing coach Athena Lao with a pie in the face. More than a hundred raffle tickets were sold, which was a great success for us.

The actual pie in the face took place on the 16th of February, during the long break. A large group of students and teachers gathered in order to see who would win, and hit me and Athena.  Four names were drawn to hit me, and three to hit Athena. As a result, our faces, clothes, and souls were full of whipped cream from the pies. Everybody left happy, and the people whose names were drawn were quite satisfied.

Results: During the week, we raised 561Leva!

We want to give special thanks to our principal Mrs. Popova for allowing us to have the “Week of Love.” We also thank all the students from the Speech and Debate team who brought and sold the baked goods. Finally, we want to thank Athena Lao for organizing everything, and for being awesome!

january 2015 - Acs open

By Adelina Ivanova

On January 17 and 18, the Debate Club of the American College of Sofia hosted a national debate tournament, the ACS Debate Open. Sixteen teams from Sofia, Pazardjik, Svishtov, Blagoevgrad, and Plovdiv took part in the rigorous competition and demonstrated a very high level of critical thought and public speaking skills. Congratulations once again to all of the winners!

Organizing the event was all in the hands of the Debate Club, its presidents- Stoyan and I – and our advisers, Mr. Michael Deegan, Mr. Scott Bleiweis, and Mr. Adam Saligman. We started by picking up the dates of the tournament, its specific format, and the motions that were to be debated. To popularize the event, we relied on the social media, as well as on the support of the Sofia Debate Association and the BEST Foundation. We are extremely grateful for their help and the opportunity to learn from their past experience with organizing tournaments.

When the team sign-up was closed, we arranged the details with accommodation and food, as well as the technical preparation for the actual event- talking to the school administration, securing rooms, providing the required materials, setting the tabulating system, ordering trophies and certificates. During the actual event, volunteers from the club and from the college in general helped with registration, guiding the teams around the school, carrying ballots, etc. We would like to express our gratitude to them as well – thank you for sparing your whole weekend to help us!

The most challenging part in the  organization was inevitably securing the financial support for the tournament. Thanks to the ACS Student Activities Fund initiated by the ACS Alumni Fund and the ACS Parent-Teacher Association of the American College of Sofia, which provided us with a grant to spend on the tournament’s expenses, as well as to our lovely sponsors: Mat Star, Byox Bikes, Cangaroo, Mania, and Subway Paradise Center; without whom we would not have been able to help the teams with their accommodation expenses, we collected the required budget.

Finally, I would like to thank the school administration for their support, the SDA and BEST foundations for their help with adjudication as well, and all of the club’s members for their devotion and enthusiasm! We had a great time this weekend, and I hope that the event will reoccur again next year!

october 2014 - halloween fun

By Alexander Venchev

Because the number of students in BEST has grown tremendously, we, the Student Ambassadors, were given the task to help fundraise for our team’s participation at competitions. The first idea that came to my mind was a Halloween party fundraiser- firstly, because we didn’t have one organized in my town and secondly, because it was a fun way for young people like us to spend the howling night.

To organize our Halloween party, my co-Ambassador and I had to reserve the youth center and meet the Mayor of Pazardzhik. At our meeting with the Mayor, the awesomest Mayor ever, he told us that he would help fund our debate club. There was also some bad news- our usage of the youth center had been denied because some old people wanted to make a presentation about something that night. Ultimately though, law and order prevailed, and since we sent our form for the center before the other group, it was given to us. The party was organized by four action groups: Tickets, Decorations, Entertainment, and Snacks.

On Halloween day, we decorated the ball room and prepared the drinks and treats. We also organized a costume contest. The attendants reached the booming number of 248 people. Based on feedback from others, the party was a steady 7 out of 10. After it was over, we cleaned the mess that was left, and we donated the leftover food to the homeless. All in all, it was great fun, and we would gladly organize another one provided an occasion. I hear rumors of an Easter treasure hunt…