Turning the “The Village of Plum Trees” into “the Village of Olympians”
The intensive training program ACTS for International Olympiad Students celebrates successful 11 day workshop. After premiering last year, ACTS 2025.2 kept with the motto of never change a winning team and returned to Romania for the second consecutive year. From June 27 to July 7, 2025, ACTS 2025 welcomed over 60 top-tier high school students to Dâmbovița County’s picturesque natural setting of Satul Prunilor, also known as The Village of Plum Trees, for a robust program of coding workshops, intense competition and fruitful exchange with mentors. Looking ahead, ACTS is building on this success with the launch of new camps in the 2025-26 academic year, further expanding opportunities for young coding talents worldwide.
For 11 days, ACTS brought together 60 exceptional international students, rigorously selected from more than 400 applications, based on their outstanding achievements in national and international IT Olympiads and through a dedicated selection contest. These talented young people took part in an intensive educational program designed to enhance their technical skills and algorithmic thinking in a highly competitive and yet collaborative environment.
This Romanian camp was part of a broader series of ACTS events held throughout the year, including ACTS Serbia in the winter and ACTS Kazakhstan in the summer. In total, more than 100 students from 20 countries participated in ACTS camps in 2025. The Serbian edition hosted 42 students, while ACTS Kazakhstan, held in collaboration with the Competitive Programming Federation (CPFED), welcomed 37 students from five countries—some participating online—at Astana IT University. Together, these camps fostered a truly global community of young coders, including many members of national IOI teams.
After a successful program in 2024, ACTS returned to Romania in 2025 thanks in large part to the support of the JetBrains Foundation, long-standing partners Constructor University Bremen and Neapolis University Pafos, as well as Romanian educational consultancy company, High Edu. In Romania, ACTS 2025 gathered participants from 14 countries for an incredible 11 days filled with bright minds, bold ideas and major breakthroughs—featuring intense coding sessions, inspiring talks and unforgettable cultural exchanges.
“We are proud to support the second edition of this transformative initiative that aligns perfectly with our mission to foster academic excellence, international collaboration and the development of future STEM leaders,” said Turgut Tülü, Chancellor of Constructor University. “These young minds represent the next generation of innovators, and ACTS.2 offers them a unique opportunity to sharpen their technical skills, deepen their algorithmic thinking, thrive in a diverse, intellectually rigorous environment and ultimately pursue bold and impactful academic and professional journeys."
Over the course of 11 days, participants engaged in advanced courses taught by university professors and international IT experts, benefitted from personalized mentoring sessions, practical workshops and internal programming competitions, both team-based and individual. Furthermore, ACTS 2025 included a robust extracurricular program, comprising recreational, sports and social activities designed to encourage collaboration and intercultural exchange. The organizers covered all participation costs for the selected students, including accommodation, meals, study materials, extracurricular activities, excursions, and transport.
"We believe that investing in education is one of the most meaningful ways to shape the future of technology. We’re especially proud to support talented school students through our computer science camps,” added Andrey Ivanov, SVP of People, Research and Investments at JetBrains. “Romanian students consistently stand out—they lead in the number of invitations to all three of our on-site camps and show exceptional results in the selection contests. Some of them go on to thrive with the help of our full scholarships. It’s incredibly rewarding to see such potential, and we’re honored to help nurture it."
“At Neapolis University Pafos, we are committed to nurturing excellence and supporting initiatives that transcend borders, empower young talents, and foster deep computational thinking,” said Savvas A. Chatzichristofis, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, Neapolis University Pafos. In ACTS.2, Chatzichristofis saw a program that went beyond what standard acdemic workshops entail. “It’s more than an educational program – it is a vibrant ecosystem of collaboration, mentorship and intellectual growth. [It’s a] global effort that equips the Olympians of tomorrow with the skills and vision to shape the digital future responsibly and do so boldly.”
Local partner High Edu played a key role in the program’s logistics and in strengthening educational ties between local institutions and international academic networks. “We are proud to be once again part of a project that offers talented young people worldwide access to top-tier training. Organizing an event of this scale requires over four months of planning, budgeting to ensure the best possible conditions for the program’s success, while also integrating leisure, outdoor activities and entertainment blended into the intensive training schedule,” stated Nona Colfescu, Busines Development Manager at High Edu Consulting. “We strongly believe in the long-term impact of initiatives that invest in education, performance, and international collaboration.”
Notably, ACTS alumni have proven the value of these camps through their outstanding performance at the International Olympiad in Informatics, earning a total of 29 medals this year: 6 gold, 10 silver, and 13 bronze—a testament to the impact and excellence of this global training initiative.
Building on these results, ACTS is looking ahead to the 2025/26 academic year with the launch of new camps. This season, two exciting opportunities are planned: a four-day online intensive camp from January 16–20, 2026, open to secondary school students aged 13–19, and ACTS 2026.1 in Romania, from January 24 – February 3, 2026, designed for students aged 16–19 with strong competition experience. Participants will be selected through the Youth Coding Challenge competition, and top performers may even be fast-tracked for interviews for JetBrains Foundation Scholarships at Constructor University Bremen and Neapolis University Pafos. With these new initiatives, ACTS continues to expand access to high-level training and empower the next generation of global coding talent.