EducationUSA Competitive College Club (CCC) Macedonia

On August 8th the members of the EducationUSA Competitive College Club Bitola had their weekly meeting, led by Ms. Biljana Kuzmanovska, ACBitola Coordinator and EducationUSA Adviser. On the meeting the students, who are preparing their college applications, were introduced with the MOOC: Applying to U.S. Universities online course and discussed volunteering experiences during the summer, taking SAT, common application & college essays.

On August 8th, The American Corner Bitola organized its monthly Book Club for the members of the EducationUSA Competitive College Club Bitola. The read of choice was one of the greatest American classic "Gone with the Wind" by author Margaret Mitchell. A special guest speaker on this meeting was Mr. Joseph Martin, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bitola. This was an excellent opportunity for the members, because Mr. Martin comes from Atlanta, where everyone has a special appreciation for this book and what the book represents. The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia, and Atlanta during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era.

On July 8th EducationUSA Competitive College Club Bitola students had the honor to meet Ms. Ann Tran, Youth Outreach & Education Coordinator and Ms. Andrea Pence, U.S. Embassy Macedonia Intern, both representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia.  As part of this meeting, the students had the opportunity to discuss with Ms. Tran and Ms. Pence several topics of interest including how to write an effective college essay, how to prepare your resume, the common application and its content as well as to learn more about American culture, education and society in general. The students were very interested to hear more about the educational and professional background of our guest speakers and used the opportunity to ask various questions starting from what Ms. Tran and Ms. Pence think about the transition from high school to college, what resources are useful for college search to what students should expect from college life. The lively conversation that lasted more than an hour co

On July 5th & 10th the members of the Competitive College Club Bitola met for the regular SAT preparation session at the American Corner Bitola. The Union College freshmen Marko Manevski guided the participants through the most important elements of the test and talked to them about their learning progress for the SAT. The students involved in the Competitive College Club were able to get the most important resources concerning each segment of the SAT and also, Marko made the participants work on their summer plan for learning about SAT. This activity included guidelines for the CCC members how they should study SAT on daily basis.

On July 1st the members of the AC Bitola Competitive College Club had their regular Tuesday meeting with Biljana Kuzmanovska, AC Bitola Coordinator and EdUSA Adviser. The Common Application and its segments were the main topic for this meeting during which the students had the opportunity to learn more about the process of completing the Common App as well as about the entire process of preparations to apply to U.S. universities. Ms. Kuzmanovska explained to the participants the most important details of the application and answered the questions that the students had, related to the Common App.

The last day of the camp, after the morning workout the campers and cadets exchanged contacts for future correspondence, and also revealed the final part of the Secret Friend Game. The Camp ended with the official closing ceremony where Ms. Valery Colby, PAO, U.S. Embassy in Macedonia and Lieutenant Colonel M. Feret awarded certificates to the participants.

The once in a month activity at the Corner, the Book club, took place on June 28th. The members of the EducationUSA Competitive College Club this time talked more about the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" and went through the book plot and the main topic with the help of Marija Iloska, former member of CCC.

The members of the EducationUSA Competitive College Club in Bitola attended 3 SAT preparation session in June organized and led by Marko Manevski, former CCC Bitola student who successfully enrolled at Union College, NY this year.  Students begin almost every session by taking a diagnostic test. Over the course of these test preparation sessions, Marko exposes the CCC students to the material they will encounter on the SAT and they together develop disciplined strategies for approaching each section. He emphasizes learning the material thoroughly and thinking critically about every question. These weekly meetings, assignments, and practice tests help students develop a deeper understanding of concepts and refine their problem-solving techniques.

Day 3 started with morning workouts! This day was dedicated on exploring the city of Ohrid by playing Scavenger Hunt, learning about Macedonian culture and having fun. Later on the cadets and campers played trivia game to test their knowledge of Macedonian words and phrases. . The day ended with playing night games on the beach!

On day two the campers started the day with morning workouts led by the ROTC Cadets. Later on, the day followed with workshops on Team Entrepreneurship /Crowd Funding , Education in the States, Volunteerism and fun activities on the beach. Day 2 ended with Movie Night and popcorn!

On June 24th 2014 the American Corner Macedonia with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia and Reserve Officers Training Corps officially opened the 2014 Summer Camp in Ohrid.  The Macedonian campers and U.S Cadets will be part of a 4 day camp activities.  Day 1 started with playing camp energizers and icebreakers with the purpose of everyone getting to know each other. Games such as My Facebook Profile, Secret Friend and Team Architect linked the participants and the fun began!  Later in the evening everyone enjoyed playing board games.

The members of the EducationUSA Competitive College Club in Bitola on May 3rd held a SAT preparation session with Marko Manevski, future student on Union College, NY.