Educa Busca is a platform for the democratization of education, and who better to explain this project than the founder herself? The text below was written by Laura Lunardi, who tells us about the process of founding this wonderful project!
Hi everyone, my name is Laura Lunardi, I am 17 years old and I am from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. I have always done volunteer work in public schools, but with the pandemic I stopped going there in person. Thus Educa Busca was created, an initiative to democratize education that provides a free website with all the math content of the ENEM exam. In addition, Educa Busca provides free online math classes through livestreams on our Instagram.
Educa Busca started in February 2020 as a project within my school. The project started with a team of four people, but in 2021 we increased the team to more than 20 volunteers, who are from different schools and different states in Brazil: RS (Rio Grande do Sul), SP (São Paulo), MG (Minas Gerais), SC (Santa Catarina), GO (Goiás), and PR (Paraná) . You must be wondering how I got in touch with students from other states to be volunteers for Educa Busca, but the answer is by talking and asking for contacts. It was by doing that, that I created a group on WhatsApp called Ajudando Projetos (Helping Projects). In this group, people promote their own projects or become volunteers for the projects already promoted. It is a space of great collaboration and encouragement.
Since the beginning of Educa Busca, we have had mentoring from André Corleta, who works at Me Salva. The first step was to conduct interviews with people who study in the public school system to understand what they really need. They all reported that they spent a lot of time looking for quality content on the internet to study; therefore, we started to build a database with all math content. We selected more than 700 links! Then, in 2021, we started the second stage of the project, which are the classes on instagram, because we realized that there is a lack of introductory content on the internet. So our math lessons are basic elementary and middle school content.
Why did you choose to start Educa Busca with math? The answer is that I have always loved math, because I was always encouraged to solve math exercises by my parents. Math is basically only training, so in class people thought I had it easy, and I used to think this was good, but as time went by I realized how many of my classmates stopped trying to solve the questions because they didn't have it "easy", especially my friends. So, that's why I chose to start Educa Busca by teaching the math subject from scratch, because I believe that this way many people can start to have it "easy".
What is it like to have a male vice president? Honestly, the entire Educa Busca team has total respect for my position as CEO, just as they have total respect for Henrique Rosenbach's position as COO. Our relationship is also one of great respect, we are very close friends, and he is my "right hand man", I usually ask his opinion before making any decision regarding Educa Busca. I consider it extremely important that his or her vice president be this "helping hand", because regardless of being male or female, it is necessary to have a respectful relationship for the positions. Since I am the founder, it is quite justifiable for me to be the "CEO"; after the project was founded in 2020, I invited Henrique to participate, and since then he has been of great help. So by 2021, when we expanded the team, he was also a leading figure.
How was the implementation of the project? The purpose, to democratize education, is very broad, so until we found the best way to make this impact, we had many ideas. The implementation was several attempts, we persisted and improved by learning from our mistakes. Our dilemma is to do and not wait for everything to be perfect to offer to the public, because the important thing is to help people study.
What have been the biggest challenges and frustrations so far? The answer is to reach the public, that is, people who don't have quality education. That is why we are forming partnerships with NGOs that have direct contact with these people.
Visit Educa Busca's Instagram and website to learn more about this project by clicking on the buttons below:
Read Laura's story in the "Reports" section of our website, and if you want to be part of this beautiful project, contact us, from Reação Feminina, in the Contact area of the website and we will get you in touch with Laura as soon as possible!
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