RuralBots Initiative – presentations for students from Ciorogârla
Following discussions with Mayor George Nicula, in the last two days I returned to Middle School No. 1 in Ciorogârla to present to the primary school children what a robotics workshop within the RuralBots Initiative means, in concrete terms.
The meetings took place in their regular classrooms, among textbooks and notebooks, without any festive setting or special preparations. It was precisely this context that made things clearer: educational robotics should not be something separate from school, but part of it.
We alternated explanations with practical demonstrations. After the first few minutes, the children instinctively gathered around the robots, trying to see better how the pieces were joined and how a simple command turned into movement. The questions came naturally, some technical, others direct and very pragmatic: "How does it work?", "How long does it take to learn?", "Can we do this too?", "When does it start?". For me, it was a delight to see that familiar alternation between concentration and impatience, between the desire to understand and the impulse to get their hands on the pieces.
The presentations were held with the support of the principal, Mrs. Gabriela Ilisie, and the teachers, who understood the potential of such a program for the school's students and supported the initiative without reservations.
For now, it was a presentation of a possibility. If the program is implemented and becomes RuralBots Academy Ciorogârla, it will follow the same principle already applied in the communities of Vasilați and Mitreni: free access for children and organization built through partnership and local involvement.
For now, the image remains of ordinary benches around which curious children have gathered, trying to understand how something works that, until yesterday, most of them had only seen in cartoons.