Jaanika´s road as Eyes Wide Open (EWO) team leader

Summer 2009

I didn´t apply for EWO team leader position. It so called „fell into my lap“. I joined EDU team in May 2009. And in the end of June, Tiina (team leader of EDU team) asked if I would want to lead Klapid Eest! team (which was one part of EDU project). At that moment I didn´t have a clue what this means, but I agreed.

On 1st of July was the first meeting with people from Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu. We didn´t select national coordinator and I agreed to manage finances of the project – temporary, but as it is said that there is nothing more constant than temporary things. So I started to write fund applications for this project. But the idea was that the fund application must be with the new and fresh idea. It meant that I started to write the concept of the project. At the beginning it was said that this project will be like World On Wheels (WOW) where the theme was entrepreneurship. And the original name was Klapid Eest! WOW. Because of the new theme, which I thought might be about consumption, I suggested the new name: Eyes Wide Open. Klapid Eest! was mandatory name, so the final name was Klapid Eest! Eyes Wide Open. In August I continued with writing project concept and fund application.

Autumn 2009

From the beginning of October, after autumn recruitment, 5 fabulous people joined me. At first there was a lot of introduction work. We got to know each other better end better every time. We had weekly meetings and the collaborative work started. I was very excited with being a team leader. In autumn almost everything seemed so easy. But constant rejections from funds were very depressive. Nevertheless everything else worked quite well: contracts with school, EP-s, introduction week etc. There was a lot of work done. To be honest, it was hard, but I enjoyed every moment of this work. EWO team was very hard working and the results were obvious.

Winter 2009/2010

At the beginning of the year we started again with hard work, although exams were in January which made EWO work a bit harder. We made interviews with EP-s and matched them. School agreements were finalized, we got the apartment for EP-s and some food. Finance issue was still a problem, but LC was very supportive at that time and we got some help from them.

Spring 2010

In the end of February the first EP-s came to Tallinn. And then the real stress started: preparation of EP-s, sending them to schools and joining them in schools. Although I wasn´t able to attend their lessons as much as I wanted, but at least I visited some schools. There were some issues with some interns, which amplified the stress factor for me. The big aim was to make the life for interns as comfortable as possible. But to hear the positive feedback from some schools and seeing that EP-s try to develop the lessons gave the energy back. Now the project is finished and some interns have already left Tallinn and others are leaving very soon.

Now when the project is finished it is good to look back what has been done and what was the impact for me. I learned a lot about teamwork: how to manage the team and how to keep all functions working. I couldn´t do all this work without EWO team. Unfortunately one of my team members quit in the middle of the project, in result the work for other team members piled up. But they handled it very well.

I think that all that stress is just one part of the project and this is inevitable. But my motivation and passion were the elements that kept me going and motivation of my team members kept my mood up during stressful times. The main thing was to keep up with the project flow and keep myself up to date. I think that altogether the whole term was positive experience. And the reason for this was my team (I won´t stop repeating this!).

I can´t wait to see what course the project will take the next term.