Projects

Completed and ongoing projects

Each workshop below was delivered in a classroom, a lecture hall or a partner's centre, with real pupils and students. They are grouped by program, in the order we ran them. The impact figures below are updated from our internal records after every workshop, and since autumn 2026 every workshop has measured feedback, with a questionnaire at the start and at the end.

workshops delivered

636

pupils and students involved

partnership agreements

98%

of participants recommend the workshop

Health education: oral hygiene, medical education and breathing

„Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College, Bucharest · 13 workshops · October-November 2026

Our first health-education program, delivered together with doctors: a 9-workshop oral-hygiene program with a dentist (8 delivered, the ninth in November) and 4 medical-education and breathing workshops for 12th grade, built for the baccalaureate preparation period. All have measured feedback, with a questionnaire at the start and at the end.

9-workshop programCompleted

Oral hygiene: 9 workshops with a dentist

„Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College, Bucharest · October-November 2026

Oral hygiene: correct brushing, flossing, myths and facts

A program of 9 oral-hygiene workshops for high-school classes at Kretzulescu, one per class, delivered by Larisa Lazăr, dentist. 8 workshops took place in October 2026, with 209 students; the ninth is scheduled for November. Every student practised correct brushing and flossing on a dental model, rather than just listening.

Feedback was measured at all 8 workshops delivered: 199 questionnaires completed (95% of participants), average score 4.6 out of 5, 98% would recommend the workshop, and the knowledge score rose from 3.3 to 3.9 out of 4 between the opening and closing questionnaires. What students wrote: "the practical part where we tested it ourselves on models", "we got to brush the fake teeth to see how it should be done", "the myth-or-fact discussion". The most frequent 30-day commitments: using dental floss, changing the toothbrush and a dental check-up.

4-workshop programCompleted

Medical education and breathing for 12th grade

„Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College, Bucharest · October 2026

Medical education and breathing: preparing for the baccalaureate without panic

4 workshops for 12th-grade students, built specifically for the baccalaureate preparation period: how to manage exam stress, how to study more effectively, how to sleep, how to eat and how to breathe to recover in seconds. Delivered by Maria Ștefania Sabo, resident doctor in family medicine, and Andreia Gavrilă, breathwork trainer.

Students measured their pulse before and after one minute of slow breathing, went through the "one step left, one step right" game about sleep, eating and anxiety, built a personal map across four areas (sleep, nutrition and sport, relaxation, study) and left with four breathing tools for exam day, including the S.O.S. protocol for a blank or panic in the exam room, plus a 30-day challenge. Feedback: 65 responses from 65 participants, average score 4.7 out of 5, 98% would recommend the workshop, and the knowledge score rose from 2.5 to 3.2 out of 4. What students wrote: "the breathing exercises and the fact that we got a sheet with things I can add to my routine", "I understood clearly how I can learn through other methods", "the energy and patience it was presented with".

Financial education and soft-skills training

„Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College, Bucharest · 6 workshops

Our first and longest program: a series of six workshops with the same high-school students, built progressively from the first personal budget to a full financial-life simulation. Because we worked with the same classes over several sessions, we could watch how the way students talk about money and decisions changes.

Workshop 1Completed

Personal budgeting: needs vs. wants

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

Personal budgeting, needs vs. wants and teamwork

The first workshop in the series at the „Nicolae Kretzulescu” Economic College: students built their first personal budget, separated needs from wants and worked in teams on situations from their everyday lives.

Each team received a fictional monthly income and a list of possible expenses and had to decide together what makes the budget and what waits. The debates about what a need really is were the heart of the workshop: that is where learning happened, not in definitions.

Workshop 2Completed

The budget pyramid and presenting to the class

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

Team work, the budget pyramid and presenting in front of the class

The second workshop took personal budgeting to the next level: the priority pyramid (must-haves, important, optional) and presenting decisions in front of classmates.

Students worked in teams, defended their choices in front of the class and received peer feedback. Beyond financial education, the workshop trained public speaking, argumentation and active listening, skills high school rarely practices.

Workshop 3Completed

Creativity and teamwork in personal budgeting

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

Full engagement, teamwork and creativity in personal budgeting

A workshop with maximum engagement: teams were free to build their own financial scenarios and find creative solutions to limited income.

When resources are not enough for everything you want, what do you do? Students explored extra income, short-term saving and smart trade-offs. The result: dozens of different solutions to the same problem and a mature conversation about compromise.

Workshop 4Completed

Financial decisions and prioritisation

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

Clarity between needs and wants, financial decisions and prioritization

A workshop focused on clarity: how to tell a need from a want when both feel urgent, and how to make a financial decision you will not regret.

Students went through prioritisation exercises under budget and time constraints: what you pay first, what you postpone, what you cut entirely. They learned to ask the simple question that prevents most money mistakes: "do I need it or do I want it?"

Workshop 5Completed

Applied budgeting and team decisions

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

Applied personal budgeting, team decisions and presentation

A hands-on workshop in which each team managed a budget over a month of real life, with unexpected events and decisions taken together.

During the simulation, surprises appeared (an urgent expense, a delayed income) and teams had to adjust their plan on the fly. The workshop ended with presentations and a discussion about the emergency fund and why it matters even at 17.

Workshop 6Completed

Financial-life simulation: decisions under pressure

Nicolae Kretzulescu Economic College

A financial-life simulation, decisions under pressure and applied teamwork

The most complex workshop in the series: a full financial-life simulation with income, rent, instalments, temptations and decisions made against the clock.

Compressed into a few hours, students lived through a year of a young adult's financial decisions. Time pressure revealed exactly the reflexes the workshop set out to build: stop for a second, compare, choose consciously. Participant feedback was the best in the whole series.

Workshops in other institutions and programs

Bucharest, Otopeni, Buzău, Brănești, Tortoman

Single workshops or short series, each adapted to its audience: children and young people in the Metropolis Foundation's programs, secondary-school pupils from a village in Constanța County, high-school students in Otopeni, Buzău and Brănești, young adults at zborHUB by BCR, medical students and student-association leaders.

2-workshop programCompleted

Financial education at „Ioan Petruș” Theoretical High School

„Ioan Petruș” Theoretical High School, Otopeni · October 2026

Financial education: the family budget and unexpected expenses

Two three-hour workshops for high-school students in Otopeni, with 35 participants: a family budget worked out on paper, unexpected expenses that wreck the plan, teamwork and presenting decisions to classmates.

The opening questionnaire showed exactly why the program matters: the basic financial-knowledge score was 1.5 out of 4, the lowest of all the groups we have worked with. Closing feedback: 22 responses, average score 4.1 out of 5, 91% would recommend the workshop. What students wrote: "I liked when we had to calculate the money a family spends", "when we got the unexpected problems", "I really liked how the teacher explained, I hope he comes again". Their suggestions (a simpler warm-up game, more explanations) go into the next edition.

WorkshopCompleted

Financial education at the Metropolis Foundation, autumn edition

Metropolis Foundation, Bucharest · September 2026

Financial education for children and young people in the foundation's programs

The third Origio EDUNOVA workshop at the Metropolis Foundation: three hours of financial education, outdoors on the foundation's sports court, for a mixed-age group of 12 children and young people from the foundation's programs, built on play, simple examples and first decisions about money.

Sitting in a circle on the court, participants worked in teams on concrete situations: what you do with the first money you earn, how you split it between needs and wants, why putting something aside matters, plus the "one step left, one step right" game with statements about money. Feedback was collected on video from every participant: they had fun, they liked it and said they want to repeat the experience. The workshop was filmed by drone for the association's presentation video.

WorkshopCompleted

Financial education at zborHUB by BCR

zborHUB by BCR, Politehnica campus, Bucharest · August 2026

Financial education for young adults: budget, first salary, decisions

A four-hour workshop for 14 young people aged 19 to 22, hosted by zborHUB by BCR: personal budget, a family budget, the letter to yourself and financial decisions made in teams.

The first workshop where we measured feedback with the new questionnaire system: 12 responses from 14 participants, average score 4.75 out of 5, 100% would recommend the workshop, knowledge score from 2.6 to 3.1 out of 4. What participants wrote: "the practical exercises, the letter", "it was fun and I could learn something", "everyone could say their point of view". The trainer's note: the family budget hit them with reality, exactly the intended effect.

Workshop 13Completed

Financial education for 11th grade: Brănești

"Traian Lalescu" Theoretical High School - Brănești

Financial education and soft skills for 11th grade

An applied workshop for 11th-grade students: personal budgeting, financial decisions, communication and teamwork, with exercises built on situations from their own lives.

Students went through simulations and hands-on exercises that connect money to everyday decisions: prioritization, planning and first notions about income, expenses and saving - plus soft skills that help them at school and beyond.

Workshop 12Completed

Funding and Sponsorships Workshop

Romanian Students' Union (USR)

How to secure funding and sponsorships for your student association

A hands-on workshop for student-association leaders: how to identify funding sources, how to write a sponsorship proposal and how to build long-term relationships with funders.

Participants worked on real cases: mapping funders, structuring a sponsorship pitch, budgeting a student project and the follow-up that turns a "maybe" into a signed partnership.

Workshop 11Completed

Financial Education for Future Doctors

SOMS Association within UMF Carol Davila

Financial education for future doctors

A workshop for medical students, organized together with the SOMS Association: budgeting, early-career income and smart financial decisions in a demanding profession.

Future doctors worked through the practical notions medical school has no time for: how to manage your money during residency, how to plan your financial goals and how to avoid the common mistakes at the start of the road.

Workshop 10Completed

Sex Education and Healthy Relationships

Metropolis Foundation - Bucharest

Sex education and healthy relationships (18+)

A workshop for young adults over 18 in the Metropolis Foundation's programs, delivered alongside a urologist surgeon: the medical side explained professionally, and the human side - communication, consent, vulnerability and emotions.

The doctor covered the biological and health dimension, while the relationships part went beyond theory: how to hold a real conversation, what consent means, how to handle your emotions and how to build a relationship based on respect. Topics rarely discussed openly, handled maturely and without taboos.

Workshop 9Completed

Financial education in a rural community: Tortoman

"Ion Ghica" Secondary School - Tortoman, Constanța

Financial education and soft skills for 7th and 8th grade

An applied workshop for 7th- and 8th-grade students in Tortoman, on personal budgeting, financial decisions and life skills.

Students worked in teams on real situations: how to split a budget, how to tell needs from wants and how to make good decisions with limited resources. This is how financial education reaches rural communities too - where it's needed most and arrives least often.

Workshop 8Completed

Financial Education for Children

Metropolis Foundation - Bucharest

Financial education for children aged 6-14

A financial-education program adapted for children aged 6 to 14 in the Metropolis Foundation's programs, built on play, simple examples and first notions about money.

Through games and hands-on exercises, the children discovered what money is, how you earn it, how you split it between needs and wants and why saving matters. A first step toward a healthy relationship with money, at the age when habits are formed.

Workshop 7Completed

Inno Mate: finance and games in Buzău

"Regele Mihai I" Economic College, Buzău

Finance and games

A hands-on program for high-school students in Buzău, built around financial literacy, communication and real decision-making. Called Inno Mate, it was run by Think Big in partnership with United Way Romania, where I was the expert.

The workshop held at "Regele Mihai I" Economic College in Buzău delivered an applied experience in which students worked on real situations and learned by doing: money, decisions, responsibility and teamwork.

Institutional partners

Institutions with which we have signed partnership agreements and where the workshops above took place.

Partnership agreement

SOMS Association within UMF Carol Davila

Partnership agreement

The Metropolis Foundation - public hospitals funded by private money

Partnership agreement

„Nicolae Kretzulescu" Economic College, Bucharest

Partnership agreement

„Traian Lalescu" Theoretical High School, Brănești

Partnership agreement

„Ion Ghica" Secondary School, Tortoman, Constanța County

Partnership agreement

The Student Union of Romania (USR)

Partnership agreement

„Ioan Petruș" Theoretical High School, Otopeni

Program collaborations

United Way Romania & Think Big (the Inno Mate program)

Want a workshop like this for your pupils or students?

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