Kick Off Meeting: Our exciting trip to Mannheim – Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim II

by Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim II

How exciting! After some weeks of preparation our adventure with YES! finally started. On 16 March 2018, we took the train from Pforzheim to Mannheim to attend our kick-off meeting at the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW).Thanks to our supportive school administration we were exempt from school that day. This was great of course! On the train we took the opportunity to exchange our thoughts about our topic „How to Combat Child Poverty- and How can Children and Adolescents be Best Supported“.

Photo: (c) Team Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim II

Once we arrived at the Center for European Economic Research, we received a warm welcome from Dr Holger Stichnoth and Ms Heimberger. They made us feel very comfortable in the conference room where Ms Laura Bickel joined us via Skype. The meeting started with a brief self-introduction of all participants. After that Dr Stichnoth explained everything we needed to know about the ZEW.

Next, Ms Bickel and Dr Stichnoth presented all the important information about the YES! challenge and pointed out how they could support us during the competition. Mr Stichnoth gave us a lot of useful advice which helped us gain a better and more accurate overview of our topic. Moreover, he offered us to contact him in case we had any questions in the future. Afterwards, we had a really interesting Q & A sequence with him and Ms Bickel.

At the end of our trip, we had a nice lunch together at the ZEW canteen before we took the train back to Pforzheim. It was a great experience to obtain all the new insights and to get to know these interesting people. Before visiting the ZEW, we also had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the University of Mannheim. All in all, it was a great day and a real adventure!

We received a realistic perspective on the topic, and now we are even more determined to promote a change.