(1888PressRelease)
June 18, 2009 - The winners of a nationwide competition for trainees worked for six months on "self-starter" projects on the subject "Cultural Workshop". The Dream Team Competition has been held every two years since 1995 and is an important part of trainees’ education at the RWE Group. This year it was held for the eighth time. A party for trainees with Chris Brow and the band "Toxic" was also held at the prize-giving.
In all, some 300 participants and 43 teams took part in the competition. The jury of the 2009 Dream Team competition is made up of board members, managers, trainers, works council members and youth representatives. Commitment, sustained social benefit and in particular, the project's cultural relevance are judged. RWE’s prize for the winners was a three-day trip to Prague.
A selection of the projects nominated:
"Are you still lost or do you know your way around?" / Essen
Together with the RAA/NRW (a regional working centre promoting the welfare of children from immigrant families), the team developed a "Guide for Children" in order to get migrant children to take an interest in their new home town of Essen. Zoe the stuffed zebra accompanies the project with her story and shows the colourful and cultural aspects of the city from a child's perspective. With Zoe accompanying them, the children visit landmarks of the city of Essen such as the Villa Hügel and the RWE Tower.
"Modern Past" / Dortmund
Secondary modern pupils performed a novel take on the play "Romeo and Juliet" with the team from RWE Service GmbH in Dortmund. To do this, trainees prepared an entire script with a text adapted to the present day. The actors donated profits to the "An der Wilhelm-Röntgen-Realschule" in Dortmund, which was also involved.
"CoolTour – Club Life Pure!" / Ensdorf
The trainees at VSE AG wanted to encourage children to spend more time in teams in sports clubs. The aim was to reinforce sports and recreation club culture and to give children a safer social environment. In the Saar 05 Saarbrücken sports club, the team looked after children aged from 9-10 years in the afternoon after they had finished school for the day. For this project the team prepared a guide with practical tips about such subjects as insurance for the children and how to deal with parents.
"Culture of Lights – between tradition and innovation" / Chemnitz
This innovative and original concept was made up of a combination of technology and culture. A flying buttress such as those seen only at Christmas was in operation here, with this one being powered in summer by solar energy. The aim of the team from envia Mitteldeutsche Energie AG was to portray a combination of innovation and tradition.
"School power" / Trier
The team from RWE Rhein-Ruhr AG set itself the goal of explaining the process of power generation to children. The trainees developed the play "From the power station to the wall socket" and performed it together with the children from the St. Nikolaus primary school in Konz. Funny costumes, such as cotton wool hats as cooling towers and toy wind wheels as wind farms led to everybody having a lot of fun. With the use of entertaining teaching materials such as puzzles and gap texts, the team succeeded in getting the children interested in the subject of energy.
"RWE cooking duel – a stomach for culture" / Dortmund
To better understand the cultures and customs of other countries, the RWE team from RWE Westfalen-Weser-Ems AG competed in cooking international dishes. After several elimination rounds the winners emerged and their dishes were subsequently included in the RWE company canteen menu. From now on, visitors to the RWE canteen will be able to look forward to new dishes. The jury consisted of such personalities as RWE Executive Board members and star chef Frank Rosin.
"Graffiti lifestyle" / Dortmund
In order to beautify Essen from a cultural point of view, the team from RWE Service GmbH developed a colourful, cosmopolitan graffiti which is to be used as an eye-catcher for the world cultural capital events in 2010. The team got graffiti artists from the street and gave them free rein to paint creative graffiti on a wall.
"A journey through Europe with all the senses" / Arnsberg
To emphasise RWE’s focus on its international orientation, the team from RWE Westfalen-Weser-Ems AG worked with the handicapped at Caritas workshops on four afternoons, introducing the cultures of countries in which the RWE Group is represented. For each country the group performed activities such as listening to Austrian music and painting pictures on the subject of water on the “Austrian Afternoon”. The team wanted to give the handicapped the chance to get a better idea of the cultures in these countries and to keep them in their memories.
"Youth culture meets youth protection" / Ensdorf
Trainees from VSE AG selected the problem issues of alcohol and drugs among young people as a central issue. The aim was to make young people aware of the dangers of addiction, so the team prepared a complete information folder on drugs of all sorts to illustrate this. A youth disco in Wiesbaden was also thrown in to show that events for young people can also be successful while still adhering to youth protection legislation.
"The future of our earth – a nightmare or a perfect world?" / Trier
Two short films were designed to show the effects "of the actions of each and every one of us". Trainees from RWE Rhein-Ruhr AG presented two images – one of a perfect world and one which had been completely destroyed. The aim of this project was to make the public aware of the fact that the future of the earth is in our own hands.
Jan-Peter Schwartz
Head of External Communications
T+49-201-12-15023
F+49-201-12-15094
http://www.rwe.com
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