“A flower bloomed in the street”: Coletivo Popular Flor de Maio’s extensionist experience in Hortolândia-SP

Abstract

The present article is a brief presentation and systematization of Coletivo de Educação Popular Flor de Maio’s experiences, particularly those corresponding to its practice as a Popular Preparation Course for University Admission between 2015 and 2019, a period in which it was supported by the Community Extension Projects (PEC) of the State University of Campinas. In the introduction, we concisely expose the importance of the relationship between the historical and social context of our collective’s formation, the territory where it operates - the city of Hortolândia, located in the metropolitan region of Campinas - and the composition of our political pedagogical practice. Then, we ran through the two basic categories of this practice: Popular Education and self-organization, separating our use of these terms from stolen and shaped meanings by the business logic. After that, we describe the activities that were made possible thanks to the resources received from the University - from the providing of students and educators' basic needs for maintenance, to excursions and the opening of new classes. Conclusively, we reflect on the construction of the University Extension Program as a communication process that seeks freedom practices and the University democratization.