Promoting IQ Games to 1000 kids on June 1st as volunteer

Yesterday was an awesome day.

I was volunteer for StartEvo Association in Parcul Liniei, Sector 6, Bucharest, with the occasion of Child Day, June 1st. Stiinta&Tehnica (Science&Technology Association), our friends, were also here.

On June 1st, we celebrated Children’s Day the best way possible—hanging out with tons of amazing kids.

When Știință&Tehnica invited StartEvo to join them at KidsFest in Liniei Park (an awesome initiative by the Sector 6 City Hall), we jumped right in. It was really cool to connect with the local community, but the absolute best part was meeting the kids.

We brought along a super enthusiastic crew of volunteer olympiads and champions. Some of them had literally just gotten back from Iași, where they won 1st place nationally at the Scientific Creativity Olympiad! It was honestly inspiring to watch Costin Pană and Andreea Poenariu (7th and 8th graders) talking so confidently about diabetes, heart diseases, and medical details. To be fair, they mostly captivated the parents, because we totally lost the younger kids to our IQ games, wire puzzles, fossils, meteorites, geological crystals, and flying propellers! Over at the Kidibot booth, our mission is to encourage reading, and I was stoked to see kids actually flipping through books and proudly telling me how much they love to read.

The 9th-grade volunteers from the “Tudor Vianu” National High School of Computer Science (CNITV) were next-level. Even though they are usually used to just studying and started out a bit shy, you should have seen how confidently they opened up. They ended up talking about their passions, the hard work it takes, and how crucial it is to have a crew that pushes you forward—all the way to the top spots at international olympiads and competitions. Math, computer science (including cybersecurity), and physics are the core sciences of the future, and these guys are honestly more than just champions.

Huge shoutout to the whole team: Alex Talpău, Tibi Enache, Natalia Poenariu, Andrei Pană, Alex Bălan, Ana Dobre, Ștefan Ferșeta, the two guys from Goethe and Spiru Haret, and… well, myself!

We spent the whole day out in the sun, and we even got to look directly at it, completely safe under the expert guidance of our astronomer friends from Astroclubul București and astROmania. On top of that, the Space Club workshops brought the sky even closer and made it super easy for the little kids to understand.

I can’t forget about the magazine! A new issue just dropped, the next one is on its way, and in the meantime, you should definitely check it out online.

Also, mark your calendars for June 12-13 for Astrofest, where Adrian Bănuță is going to make some fantastic things happen. If you want to support what we do or join as an exhibitor with a cool idea to help future generations, definitely hit him up.

Happy Children’s Day to all the awesome kids out there! Stay curious and keep working hard!