A year at the S10 Academy
Last year, the S10 Academy was established on the initiative of students, with the aim of promoting knowledge and development beyond studies. Our aim is to develop a pool of intellectuals with a diverse and diversified knowledge base, both cultural and social, that goes beyond the classroom. We want to encourage our students to be curious and open to the world, to think critically and to be well-informed to succeed in life.
Our trainers are outstanding professionals in their fields who, through their motivation, preparation and vast life experience, provide our beneficiaries with additional knowledge from which they can build an inexhaustible toolbox.
This year’s course instructors included András Török, writer, cultural historian and cultural manager, Dr. Lajos Aáry-Tamás, Commissioner for Educational Rights, Gellért Karácsonyi IM, international chess master, Ildikó Nagy, mentor and art therapist, and the founders of the Mélylevegő Projekt self-awareness group.
This year, 29 of our students participated in 8 courses, and next year the S10 Academy will be expanded with new participants and available workshops.
This year, our courses included a theatre course, a classical music course, a book club, a film club, chess development, a creative writing club, a series of educational and legal culture lectures, and self-awareness sessions.
The theatre course aims to showcase a variety of theatrical performances, including classical theatre, small companies and contemporary solo productions. After the performances, the students took part in a joint discussion, where they analysed and interpreted the plays they had seen, led by András Török.
The classical music course was created in response to the needs of the students, with the main focus on introducing and encouraging young people to appreciate classical music. Both theoretical and empirical sessions contributed to this, and from the creation of playlists to a visit to the Hungarian House of Music, participants were exposed to a wide range of knowledge. András Török’s direct, free-flowing style made even Bach’s complex and tense pieces digestible.
The theme of this year’s film club was ‘Comedies with a lesson’, and true to its name, the course participants were able to watch classics that, beneath the humorous surface, contain deep and sometimes tragic reflections. In the second half of the course, the students played a key role and the films of their choice were screened.
The theme of this year’s reading club was based on short stories, from Maupassant to Krisztina Tóth, and the lessons also allowed us to polish our French pronunciation with the help of András Török. The rich discussions highlighted different interpretations of the works, which changed with the reader’s life experiences.
Dr. Lajos Aáry-Tamás, Commissioner for Education Rights, has prepared a series of very interesting lectures. The course aims to familiarise students with the legal aspects of public education and higher education. Education is Hungary’s largest legally defined social subsystem, where a lot of people spend a lot of time in each other’s company. In such cases, conflicts are inevitable, but legal knowledge is needed to resolve and remedy them. The course covered seven topics: the legal approach to education, legal conflicts in education, violation of personal rights, protection of personal data, school violence, cyber-bulling, campus violence, people with disabilities in education, why we educate, why we learn, what will we Hungarians be like in 50 years?
During the chess course we had the opportunity to study with a real international chess master, who is also a beneficiary of the Csányi Foundation, so we got to know a new side of one of our peers. His lessons built the skeleton of this wonderful sport from the ground up. The importance of a good opening was discussed, but there were also many puzzles on the board, which often took a long time to solve. Chess is not only a great community builder, but it also greatly develops critical and analytical thinking, memory and planning skills.
The creative club was led by Ildikó Nagy, one of the Foundation’s mentors. Their main focus was to introduce the participants to different art techniques, including watercolour, oil painting, clay, felting and pastel chalk. In addition, art as a therapeutic way of self-expression was highlighted and was explored in depth in an art therapy session led by the course leader.
The S10 Academy self-awareness group was born as a collaboration between the Mélylevegő Project and the Csányi Foundation. Throughout the semester, the Mélylevegő Project helped participants to work on topics such as goals, roles in life, stress and self-sabotage, character strengths, talent and efficiency building.
We hope that the knowledge gained during the courses will accompany the young people throughout their lives and that they will be able to draw on it in any situation in the future, and that they will be active participants in next year’s courses. The coming academic year will bring new excitement as we will explore more local and regional treasures, both within the framework of the Creative Club and the Budapest Travelling Club. The focus of the Creative Club participants will be on Szentendre, the city of painters, while András Török will reveal the secrets of Budapest. We will also give first-year students the opportunity to work on their academic writing and presentation skills beyond the university curriculum.
A new feature for the 2022/2023 academic year is the S10 Academy Roundtable Discussion Series, which aims to bring together students with inspiring people who have lived an inspiring life and who can share their experiences to motivate and help young people build their careers. Dr. Sándor Csányi, founder of the Csányi Foundation, is the main patron of the event, while we are delighted to welcome Erika Csányi as the S10 Academy’s patron. The S10 Academy Roundtable Discussion is based on the Cambridge ‘formal dinner’ tradition, so once a month the event is held partly at the Villa Bagatelle restaurant and partly at S10, to give students the opportunity to learn about the etiquette of formal dinners.
The invited guests of the five occasions of the academic year were Edwárd Papp, CEO of SMP Solutions Zrt, László Romsics, CEO of Csányi Winery, two young people behind the Memorial Factory: Szilárd Szőcs and András Deák, the leader of the Chamber Orchestra of the Foundation Adriána Kalafszky, opera singer, and András Török, cultural historian and philanthropist, also known as a prominent teacher of the S10 Academy. Erika Csányi and Dr. Sándor Csányi were also regular guests at the dinner, and the dinner series was a hit with several members of the Board of Trustees, including Edwárd Papp, Gábor Marosi and Ádám Csányi.
We also held our team building evening on the first of March, which was attended by almost all of us. We had five teams competing against each other and against the clock in the themed breakout rooms in various locations around Budapest. The points converted from the remaining time were carried forward to the team quiz, which was held on the ground floor, with Bibi Járay as game master. This was the only reason why her team did not manage to take first place. 🙂
