Dozens of high school students from Cluj, together with their teachers, mentors and partners of #SchoolNews were present at the official opening event of the project that took place on Wednesday, November 27, at Xponential Transylvania. 

During the event, those present learned about the objectives of #SchoolNews, the steps already taken, as well as the mentors who will guide the high school students through the project in the coming months.

The evening culminated with the presentation of the media products the students are working on in their newsrooms. From traditional school magazines to projects with social impact and initiatives integrating new media, all of them delighted us with their creativity and professional maturity.  

Over the next period, until June 2025, the students will work alongside expert mentors: Codruța Simina (Public Record and Misreport), Bianca Felseghi (PressOne), Cristina Lupu (Center for Independent Journalism), Sebők Tímea (Radio Cluj – Hungarian newsroom) and Adrian Ardelean (Europa Liberă). The mentors will help the mentored team to find their own solutions, build an action plan and achieve the vision set out in it. The students will then participate in four specialized workshops that will give them the opportunity to focus on areas they feel are closer to their interests.  Newsrooms will also benefit from new equipment and access to a customized online platform to support their work.

The project directly involves students from the school newsrooms of “Nicolae Bălcescu” Theoretical High School, “George Coșbuc” National College, Reformed Theological High School, “Avram Iancu” Theoretical High School and “Emil Racoviță” National College. 

Thanks to the mentors, partners and all those who support this project. We look forward to seeing them again and enjoying the impact of the products created by the students!

The #SchoolNews Cluj project is implemented by the PONT Group from January 2024 to June 2025. Under #SchoolNews, PONT Group supports the development of school newspapers so that young people aged 14-18 can become more engaged, develop critical thinking and digital media literacy skills through direct involvement in content creation and accessing information created by their peers. 

Read more about School News and “Digital Literacy Transformation for Romanian Youth”, the bigger project it is a part of:https://en.pontgroup.org/projects/digital-literacy-transformation-for-romanian-youth/