Blanes, in Girona, has marked the end of the 17th edition of Projecte Rossinyol, a mentoring programme for newly arrived children and young people. The initiative is run by Blanes Town Council and the University of Girona, and its closing ceremony for the 2025 to 2026 academic year took place last Friday in the Maria Dolors Oms Plenary Hall at the Town Council.
The event brought together mentors, mentees, families and representatives from the participating schools. Gloria Agudo, Deputy Mayor for Education, led the ceremony, alongside Núria Mestres, a mentoring technician representing the University of Girona. They welcomed attendees and introduced a presentation made with Canva, which included contributions from the mentors.
During the closing, Luz from the Blanes Educational Environment Plan presented the 13 participating pairs. Mentors and mentees spoke about their experience over the year, including the trust they built, the learning they shared and the meetings they held in recent months.
The gathering also included a video compilation of activities carried out by the pairs during the year, put together from photographs shared through Tellfy. It ended with a group photograph of participants, educational representatives, families, the Education Councillor, the University of Girona technician, members of the Educational Environment Plan and the head of the Education Department.
This 17th edition involved 26 participants, made up of 13 pairs of University of Girona students and Blanes schoolchildren. The mentored children and young people, aged between 9 and 14, attend four public schools in the municipality: Escola Carles Faust, Escola Quatre Vents, Escola Joaquim Ruyra and Escola Napoleó Soliva.
The students come from Ukraine, Bolivia, Morocco, Colombia, Cuba, Moldova, Jordan and Russia. Most of the mentors live in Blanes or nearby towns and study at the University of Girona in areas including Early Childhood Education, Biology, Law, Pedagogy, Chemistry, Primary Education Teaching, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering. For more local education coverage, see news.
Projecte Rossinyol is a social mentoring scheme that has supported the reception, inclusion and educational support of newly arrived children and young people in the municipality for nearly two decades. Blanes Town Council and the University of Girona will now review feedback from this edition and continue the programme for future arrivals.