In the year declared by the Council of Europe the Year of Citizenship through Education, the Municipality sought to give its contribution to the overall aspiration of the nation and the civil society to modernize the educational system and preserve the prerequisites for quality education. On its behalf, the school sought partnerships with public organizations in its natural social environment. The link between Municipality and school was made effective by the combined efforts of municipal employees and teachers at the Hristo Botev General Education School.

A School European Club (SEC) has existed at the Hristo Botev General Education School for the past six years. As a member of the National Association of the Bulgarian European Clubs (NABEС), its activities are focused on three sections: Roots, Environment and Foreign Language Training. Since its establishment, SEC has been a partner to the Municipality and the Dobrich European Club, and has implemented international educational projects. In the beginning of the 2004/2005 academic year, SEC began working on the I m a citizen of Europe, and Bulgaria Deserves to be EU Member Country project.

In geography and history classes, 6th and 7th grade students collected information on EU member countries. In foreign language classes they learned about the lifestyle, culture and holidays of other nations. The parents were involved in the formulation of the educational process on the topic. At the same time, the Municipality participated in the modernization of school facilities (equipping a new computer studies hall, reconstructing the school s façade under Beautiful Bulgaria).

This year SEC participated as a partner in a municipal project, Christmas with Friends. Drawings and description of Christmas customs (Bulgarian and foreign) decorated a Christmas calendar. SEC representatives and the deputy- mayor of economic development and European integration, Galina Miteva, were invited to the Bulgarian National radio s night show. The Christmas with Friends project gave birth to the idea to consolidate the resources and to create a common organization of the eight School European Clubs in Dobrich. The topic of the common European family united the SECs and now they re interacting, exchanging information and supporting each other's activities. One of the initiatives included the development of information and materials for the newspaper published by the Dobrich Writers Association, as a part of a project won by the Association and related to the European integration topic.

The Spring in Europe 2005 initiative of the Ministry of Education was used as a conceptual framework. The teams involved in the project made the information available to others. The vision of the collection activity is planned in three aspects: Changing Europe, a contour map of member countries, forbidden coded for the accession stages and containing information about capital, population and accession date; The Beginning the unification idea, the European institutions and their leadership; and Bulgaria s Way to Europe from the conception of the idea to April 25, 2005.

In IT classes project team members uploaded the collected information, processed it and printed it by highlighting the most important aspects . Children from a primary school were also involved in project activities. They expressed their messages for friendship and peace by drawing. Children sent environmental messages to children in neighboring Romania via the guests attending a work meeting of the municipal leaderships of Dobrich and Constantsa. The fourth graders arranged some of their expectations for the future in the form of a wall made of leaflets.

The usefulness of the teaching practice in this case is in the changed attitude of the teacher in this type of communication from a teacher to an intellectual partner.

The project also aspires to mobility. The product includes: information on citizen education; CD-ROM information for the two computer halls; a role game for geography classes (puzzle contour map) in the 6th and the 7th grade; an animated English lesson for the 3rd grade.

Municipal administration representatives participated in all initiatives as coordinators . By using contacts, dialogue and real activities, the Municipality prepares the future members of its civil society to meet the challenges of the dynamic changes.

On March 17, a holiday under the Spring in Europe project, the events were attended by deputy - mayor G. Miteva, members of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, International Cooperation and European Integration, the Peace Corps volunteer, parents and school board members.

- Active partnership between school and Municipality;

- Enriched educational process;

- Modern teacher student relations;

- Involvement of the parents;

- Networked School European Clubs;

- European self-confidence of the Dobrich children.