The European Commission declared 2023 the European Year of Skills. On that occasion, Europe Direct Slavonski Brod, which operates under the European Home Slavonski Brod, organized an international prize video contest I have a motto! / I have skills!, which was open until May 25! Young people who have a skill in any field of human activity were invited to present their skill in a short video, lasting up to 30 seconds. The competition was open from April 1 to May 25, 2023. Young contestants could send their creative video works on the topic of numerous skills they have acquired or are on the way to acquiring. These could be basic skills – various types of literacy (mathematical, musical, civic…), digital, vocational or technical skills, entrepreneurial and transversal skills (knowledge of foreign languages or personal development and learning ability) and increasingly social skills.
A large number of works were submitted to the competition from all over Croatia, as well as Europe. The judging panel had a difficult task to choose the 10 best video works, and the 3 best works were awarded.
The award ceremony was held at the event “Timeless Imprint of Diluvial Craftsmanship”, organized to mark the European Year of Skills #EYS2023, at the Matija Antun Reljković High School, Slavonski Brod, June 14, starting at 11 a.m.
Why the award ceremony on the occasion of the unveiling of the mammoth information board and the event “Timeless imprint of diluvial art” in the outdoor classroom of the Matija Antun Relković High School? One of the reasons is that mammoth remains were found in the Glogovica River, which flows near the school, in the recent past. Our history, the history of skills, begins in the mammoth age. At that time, the first examples of the art of cave painting were created. The timeless imprint of diluvial art, the first imprint of a human bloody hand – a deliberate sign, not a trace, in the Altamir cave, is a testimony to the human intellectual capacity that then enabled the birth of visual art. We can say that it was a bang in the stage of human evolution. Then the so-called Paleolithic art, also known as the Art of the Ice Age – which is evidenced by the depictions of certain animals – bison and horses, deer and mammoths. This period of the “Paleolithic Revolution”—the emergence of artistic skills—helped shape modern man.
From then until now, our societies and economies have been constantly changing. So the demand for relevant knowledge and skills changes over time. In order to cope with the changes, people had to acquire different skills – the skills of hunting, following changes in nature, growing vegetables and livestock, preparing food, making tools, dishes and art objects, operating machines. Today, the panorama of required skills is even larger and more demanding. Today, it is necessary to acquire at least a basic set of key competences, including literacy, numeracy and digital competences. Critical thinking, creativity and the ability to work in a team are equally important for building sustainable societies, careers and active citizenship.

However, in order to survive and progress, we sometimes have to take a step back. Our history begins with a mammoth, but it also continues with a mammoth. By his revival. Different groups of researchers and experts are engaged in the project of its revival.

Mammoths left behind an abundance of genetic material that can favor its revival, the return of an extinct species to life by adapting the genome of its modern relative – the Asian elephant. This will help to restore the ecological balance, restore the fragile ecosystem, restore meadows in the arctic tundra, protect the land from erosion, help fight climate change; globally warming has caused an increase in temperatures in the tundra of Siberia and North America, which leads to the release of carbon dioxide in large quantities.
For youth it is necessary to direct your knowledge and skills to the survival of endangered animal and plant species, which are on the verge of extinction or disappearance, to the preservation of life on our planet, and even to the revival of old animal species, with the help of new technologies and skills, artificial intelligence. We need to secure and direct it so that in the future it is a tool that improves our capabilities, and not a threat that reduces them.
The project to create a functional mammoth through genetic engineering or cloning is the path to genetic salvation is a trial balloon, as important as the attempt to launch to the Moon. Even if the goal is not successful, while trying, along the way, accompanying technologies, knowledge and skills will be developed that will prevent the extinction of species, man and the world. We started with a mammoth, we are going into the future with a mammoth. Bringing the mammoth back to life can be called a kind of incubator for developing all kinds of skills, improving human creativity, problem-solving skills and discovering new possibilities in various fields.
Therefore, we are glad that the mammoth information board was placed in the open classroom of Matija Antun Reljkovć High School, in the school garden – the place closest to the discovery of mammoth remains in river Glogovica, a place open to citizens to visit and meet the past and the future, very close to the students so that they enabled a direct, tangible transfer of knowledge that will be upgraded by acquiring new knowledge and skills.
And we are especially glad that its unveiling took place in 2023, when we celebrate the European Year of Skills.
The authors of the 10 best video works are:
1. Luka Kolesarić
2. Gabrijela Karačić
3. Elena Milardović
4. Lovro Pozaić, Franjo Kranjec
5. Giulia Selmi
6. Antia Lorenzo
7. Lonie Jacquemin
8. Aurora Ristović
9. Lorina Ciurusniuc
10. Teo Hodak, Ivan Horvat