Emotional intelligence doesn't usually top the list of skills young people talk about developing. That changed for 22 participants from Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia who gathered at INPRO during the first week of September for the Erasmus+ youth exchange project "EQ is the New Cool."
Over five days, the group worked through topics that don't fit neatly into a school curriculum: communication, teamwork, creativity and critical thinking. Alongside the workshops, participants shared stories about their cultures and traditions, which turned out to be as educational as anything on the formal programme.
The week opened on Monday with icebreaker activities designed to get 22 strangers from four different countries talking to each other. They worked. Within hours, the room had shifted from polite introductions to genuine conversations about life in different countries, filled with curiosity and the kind of laughter that doesn't need translation. The group also got a proper introduction to INPRO — its work, its mission and the space they'd be spending the week in. That afternoon, everyone headed into the city for a guided tour of Rzeszów's old town, exploring the history and less obvious corners of the city together.
From Tuesday onward, the focus moved to skill-building. Interactive workshops, group discussions and creative challenges gave participants practical tools for collaboration and self-expression. The core thread running through all of it was emotional intelligence — learning to recognise and communicate thoughts and emotions in ways that are both honest and constructive. Skills that are easy to overlook and hard to teach from a textbook.
By the end of the week, the project had done what the best Erasmus+ exchanges do: brought together young people from different backgrounds, given them something real to work on, and sent them home with more than they arrived with.
The project was funded by the Erasmus+ Programme.
