About the project
I Belong (Apartin) is an interactive digital experience about students' sense of belonging at school - the feeling that you have your place and that you are part of the group. Instead of explaining inclusion, it asks you to design it: you become the architect of a school and make decisions that determine whether five different students feel included or are left out.
The central idea is that, most of the time, it is not the children who are the problem - it is the rules and the way a school is organised. A seemingly trivial rule, like how teams are formed or how answers are asked for in class, can decide who feels at home at school and who quietly gives up. Low belonging shows in the school climate, in bullying and in silent dropout. At the end, the experience generates an audit and a personalised intervention plan, based on the decisions you made.
I created I Belong on my own initiative, drawing on my work in youth mental health - as a member of the UNICEF Romania Children's Board - and on what I saw in my own school. It is a form of social-emotional education, designed for Romanian schools and free to use in class.
How the lab works
Meet five students. Each is different - but each can be happy at school if you build the right rules.
Make six decisions about how the school runs: how teams are formed, how answers are given in class, how families are spoken to, and so on. For each one, you pick one of two options.
The coloured circle at the top is made of the five students. When a student starts to feel part of the class, their piece colours in. When all five feel good, the circle is whole.
Press “Run the school year”. You go through a whole year and see what happened to each student because of your choices.
Change a single rule and run again. You will see how the same student can be happy - or can give up - depending on what you decided.
How to read the result
A high score does not mean you “had better students”. It means you made rules that fit everyone. If a student stays out, the question is not “what was wrong with them?” but “what rule pushed them out, and how can I change it?” That is exactly what you see, written clearly, next to each student.
Who it's for
A short tool for homeroom class that opens a real discussion about inclusion.
A lens to see how school policies include or exclude - beyond intentions.
A starting point to talk with students about belonging and mental health.
A few-minute experience that shows, from the inside, how it feels to be left out - and what you can change.
A replicable model, with clear indicators, for school-inclusion programmes.
The competition
I entered I Belong in DI_PLOMA AWARDS 2026 - the Diversity & Inclusion Awards, organised by the “Puternici prin Diversitate si Incluziune” (OPEN MINDS) Association. DI_PLOMA AWARDS is an annual competition that supports and publicly recognises diversity-and-inclusion projects created in Romania, offering a national platform of visibility, prizes and grants. My project is entered in the PEOPLE category, dedicated to individuals behind D&I initiatives. The winners are announced on 16 July 2026.
The project, in one card
I Belong · a project by Nicholas Carstoiu
The I Belong (Apartin) concept, the interactive experience and all the materials on this page are my own work and intellectual property.
I share them here so my work can be understood and appreciated, and so that teachers, schools and future participants can draw inspiration from them and use the experience in the classroom.
They may not be copied, reproduced or used commercially without my written permission.