V. Potanin’s Charity Foundation’ XI Jubilee Summer School 2013

Vladimir Potanin's charity foundation has arranged from July 1 to July 6, 2012 in Moscow region (Khimki, Olimpiyets Hotel Complex) the XI Jubilee Summer School for participants of its large-scale Federal Scholarship Program project.

The program has started in 2000 and it is focused on support of the most active and talented students studying in country’s top state universities from Murmansk to Vladivostok. This academic year 1200 students from 57 higher education institutions of the country became scholars of Fund. Grants in amount of 4 000 rubles are paid monthly throughout a calendar year.

Summer and Winter Schools are clubs for the most active scholars of Fund. They bring together those wanting and able to change to the best the surroundings, relying on own professionalism, creativity and voluntary activity. Schools are an opportunity to get a grant for realization of their own initiative. Schools are also training` and master classes, semi-popular lectures, and interesting acquaintances to adherents, discussions and talk-shows.

350 scholars of higher education institutions from Moscow, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East with their 62 volunteer projects prepared in the following areas of activities became participants of Summer School-2013:

• socially oriented activity;
• students' scientific societies and development of professional competences;
• campus life and student government.

The school program includes: trainings, master classes, lectures and discussions "How to create a world leader company? ", "Hopscotch", "Communication in creative environments", etc.; the business games "Leadership in Personal Interaction", "Present yourself to the world! ", "Positive networking: individual competitiveness", "Laws of effective communication: three main laws of efficient communication", "Efficiency in the multitasking conditions or How to jump out of a squirrel wheel", "Changes to my advantage: how to develop adaptability and openness to new developments"; discussion of the Alexander Veledinsky’s movie The Geographer Boozed Away The Globe , which become this year’ First Prize of the Kinotaur Film Festival; public review of volunteer projects; rewarding of authors of the best projects; school closing.

Within these years were distributed grants in amount of 7 million rubles. Five projects were implemented without financial support. A project which has not got any grant can be implemented as well, an example of that is activity of KGTU-KAI scholars who have independently implemented several projects, one of which is the "Need for Speak" project (training of volunteer translators). Here are several other projects implemented independently: "nimated Cartoons For Health (A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University) – the youth healthy lifestyle; The Excellent Start (Tver State University) – involvement of first-year students in Academe.

In total within 4 years of Schools activity (2009 to 2013) are implemented or are under implementation more than 100 student's projects.

There are various projects - ecological, donor, work with orphan children and children in youth custody centers, with pensioners, undergraduates and high school students. Many projects stay active. The Unknown Victory project is included in Vladivostok city events schedule, results of the Your Profile project are widely used in high school students’ occupational guidance in Perm.

Not always students can precisely calculate risks, but goal-seeking scholars always find a solution. The life in Color project on improvement of the Novosibirsk Campus faced a lot of administrative and financial obstacles. The solution was found by involvement of volunteers, other financial sources, activity of the city-folk who have overcome bureaucratic obstacles.

The Potaninists consider as one of the project’s strong points organization of mass discussion groups by high school students. They realized amount of works and for this reason made the decision to prolong the project for rather big term – about 10 months. In this period they expect to distribute the applications, posters and to hold training events. The team seeks to draw attention of mass media to rather small share of eyes disease prevention campaign if compared, for example, with anti-alcoholism campaign and control of smoking. Their university’ TV program on regional TV channel shall become a strong support for them. The scholars already have an arrangement about it. The team wants to complement educational character of the project with entertaining thematic flash-mobs. Thus the Potaninists expect to attract youth audience.

The AKSIOMA Independent Stage Company provided technical support for the V. Potanin’s Charity Foundation’ XI Jubilee Summer School 2013 event which took place in Olimpiyets Park Hotel from July 1 to July 6, 2013.