All four winning projects from ITMO were presented within the track I Make: there, participants had to come up with improvements on the scale of the country, as well as university or local communities. 17,000 students from all over Russia submitted their ideas in the track; the expert jury has decided on 200 winners, who, apart from the 1 million-ruble prize, will have the chance to go on a tour across Russia with various themes: industry and technologies, culture and art, sports and tourism, science and innovations, and others.
Kirill Sheshukov, a student of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations, came up with the project Designing Meaning. Within the project, specialists offer art therapy sessions and creative workshops to children at youth homes and people with disabilities; the young participants’ art is then turned into designs for clothes, postcards, and other merch. A third of all proceeds goes to partner charities that help children and the elderly with disabilities, as well as children who lost their families. The project won in the special category organized by the retail chain Ulybka Radugi.

Kirill Sheshukov. Photo courtesy of the subject
Student of the Institute of International Development and Partnership Olga Deniskina presented the project Platan and the Secret Life of Science Cats. It’s a visual novel for school and university students that teaches them various digital approaches, such as web scraping, digital archives, and methods for data visualization and generation of images. These skills will come in handy for data analysis in research and studies.
Tatiana Saikina, a student of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations, suggested an inclusive day camp, where children with disabilities take part in fun classes and tours of various museums. And Georgy Inkin from the Faculty of Systems Control and Robotics presented Stek_PRO, an IT platform for creating smart home environments, including a set of parts, an information platform, and an online course on Stepik. This project won in the special category by Rosatom.
Projects by ITMO students also featured in other tracks and categories. For instance, Svetlana Lavrukhina, a student of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations, won in the first-years-targeted track called Trailblaizer; while another student from the faculty, Melaniya Yakovleva, came first in the educational program Voice of the Generation. Students.

Melaniya Yakovleva. Credit: vk.com/tvoihodonline
Elizaveta Loskutova, a student of the Faculty of Software Engineering and Computer Systems, landed in the top 50 of the contest’s ambassadors, who attracted new participants and helped create a national student community.
Maria Kuznetsova, the head of ITMO’s Yagodnoe sports and leisure camp, won in the competition of best practices in youth policy among Russian universities with her project of themed summer camps. ITMO University as a whole was among the three winners of the competition for universities – for the university-wide adaptation program for first-years. In total, 14 ITMO students won or landed in the top lists in various categories and competitions within Your Turn.
“The main principles behind extracurricular activities of students at ITMO are their proactivity and initiative. All the events, projects, student clubs and communities, sports clubs and events that happen at the university every day – they are run by our students. Our task as the university is to ensure a suitable environment through convenient services, good-quality infrastructure, and all kinds of support, to realize the potential of every student. Thus, ITMO assists students in creating new initiatives within its walls – and landing in the tops of various competitions and projects,” says ITMO’s Vice Rector for Youth Policy Evgeny Raskin.

The awards ceremony for the competition of universities. Photo courtesy of the subjects
The national student project Your Turn is a contest held annually with support from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It’s meant to help university applicants and students to bring their projects to life and improve the education system. Within the project, students take part in workshops, implement projects, and receive funding to study or travel the country. The finals of the fourth season of Your Turn took place on December 15-20 in Moscow, gathering more than 2,500 students from 89 regions of Russia.
Registration for the fifth season of the project opens on January 25. Participants can join one of the five tracks: I Define, I Unite, I Inspire, I Discover, or I Make. You can learn more on a broadcast to be held on the project’s VK page or from one of the ambassadors at ITMO.