The officials of St. Petersburg visited the event this year. Georgy Poltavchenko, governor of St. Petersburg made a speech at the awarding ceremony.
"By uniting efforts and success we can contribute to solving big challenges faced by student community and the city. You can be proud of being part of St. Petersburg student body, as our higher education is one of the best ones in Russia and in the world. Recently ITMO University, Peter the Great Polytechnic University and Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" joined the Russian Academic Excellence Project 5−100, which made it very privileged to study at these universities," mentioned Georgy Poltavchenko in his speech.
This year, 171 students from 36 cities took part in the contest. The jury selected 36 best students — three people in 12 nominations. The students presented social, art, cultural, sport and volunteering projects.
In 2014, Ms. Litvinenko became the head ITMO’s Student Council. Under her supervision, the Council won the first prize at the All Russian Student Community Competition. Its two projects — "Increasing of students' role in innovative development of Russia" (2015) and "Involvement of students into state programs for improving their competences" (2016) — received 28 million rubles by the Government.
"I appreciate the team work of our Council’s members who contributed to this victory. We try to be unique, find our own ways to promote student initiatives. I would like to thank ITMO University, as it gives students an opportunity to participate in management processes. I believe that it makes our non-classical university move advanced," commented on Ms. Litvinenko.
Among the participants there was another ITMO student. Alena Stepanisheva, chairman of the Student Volunteer Center, participated in the nomination "the best supervisor of volunteering activities."
