Summer Academy 2024
For the fifth time, the “Jaunimo debatai” association organised its Summer Academy, the most anticipated event of the year by its members, which took place from the 23rd to 25th of August in Trakai County. The academy brought together pupils, students and young professionals aged 18–26 from all over Lithuania, who then spent three days exploring the concept of a DREAM.
The Summer Olympics in Paris have fulfilled the biggest dreams of many athletes around the world, and more than half of the world’s population will go (or has already gone) to the polls this year. Furthermore, in the face of elections of the year 2024, the majority of Lithuanian citizens have read programmes and institutional plans of the country’s political parties, which often did not contain “dreams”, but rather were full of compromises that only partially reflected the needs of society. With this in mind, the academy organisers invited participants to a discussion: What would a programme for a country look like if it was written collectively by its inhabitants? Is it even possible to formulate a vision of the state and its society without compromise? What obstacles stand in the way of realising dreams?
We are very grateful to the guests invited to the Summer Academy, whose presentations stimulated lengthy discussions among the event’s participants: We thank the psychologist and “mindfulness” trainer Janina Sabaitė, who gave a lecture on “The importance of dreams for people and neuroscience”; the former Minister of Defence Arvydas Anušauskas, who agreed to take part in the discussion “Secure Lithuania – a dream?”; the athletes Ernesta Kareckaitė and Diana Zagainova, who shared their experiences during the thematic discussion “Dreams, medals and honour: the changing role of sport in Lithuania”; and the two young politicians Daniel Ilkevič and Tadas Vinokuras, who dealt with the question: “Lithuanian dream? Or how far can you climb the ladder of opportunity in Lithuania?”.
Our association is also very thankful for the presentation of Gustė Židžiūnaitė, one of our members, who spoke on the effects of stress on the human body. Presentations by the associations’ members on topics that interest them personally, we believe, are one of the most important traditions of our academy, which not only gives the speakers the opportunity to pass on their knowledge but also, in the spirit of debate, to test their skills as speakers. Finally, we are very proud of the classical music concert, which, this year, took place at the Užutrakis Castle and once again successfully concluded the Summer Academy programme.
Nonetheless, this year’s academy programme provided great focus for workshops as well, which were co-organised and moderated by Modesta Kairytė, the coordinator of the “Lithuania 2050” project and advisor to the Strategic Management Team. During the two-day workshop, the Summer academy participants were asked – after first hearing the vision of the future already formulated by the Centre for Strategic Analysis (STRATA) – to develop their own ideas for the Lithuania of tomorrow: From educational innovations to sustainable and healthy living solutions. We are also very grateful to Dr Liutauras Gudžinskas, who actively contributed to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung study titled “Lietuvos svajonė: Duonos užtenka, norime žaidimų” – a work which also inspired the theme of our academy. Dr Gudžinskas gave a great introduction to the academy-weekend with his lecture on freedom at the individual and state level, and also spoke about the results of the study.
We are very happy that this year we had an unprecedented number of participants who believed in the “Jaunimo debatai” association and participated in the Summer academy for the first time. We would also like to thank the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in the Baltic States for their cooperation, long-term support, help in organising this event, and for initiating the study “Lietuvos svajonė”.
The Summer Academy is just one of many events organised by the association to promote democratic values, critical thinking and civic engagement. Read more about our other events in the projects section.
A few snapshots from the event:
