The ceremony for this year’s awardees of St. Tatiana badges of honor was held in St. Petersburg’s Smolny Cathedral, consecrated in 1835 as ‘the cathedral of all educational institutions’. As per the tradition, the annual Russian Students Day event started with a church service, attended by the heads and students of the city’s educational institutions, as well as the representatives of the St. Petersburg city administration.
Vyacheslav Makarov, the chairman of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, started the awards part by congratulating everyone present on behalf of the city’s acting governor Alexander Beglov. Congratulations were also offered by Alexey Demidov, the rector of the St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, and Julia Ablets, the head of the Committee on Youth Policy and Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations in the Government of St. Petersburg.
“It is most valuable that on this day 264 years ago, Empress Elizabeth I founded Lomonosov Moscow State University, which became the cradle of knowledge and impetus for the development of the country’s civil society. It’s great that we commemorate this special day by celebrating conscientious, active, and enthusiastic young people and their sagacious mentors, and awarding them with the eminent St. Tatiana badges of honor. I’m proud of the fact that the young St. Petersburgers of today live their lives to the fullest and do their utmost to study and develop themselves,” noted Julia Ablets.
Students and educational activists received their St. Tatiana badges of honor from the hands of the representatives of the Council of Rectors. Awardees in the Mentor of the Youth category included ITMO University’s Alexey Itin, the head of the Student Media Department, and Alexander Mayatin, an associate professor at the Information Technologies and Programming Faculty.
Another ITMO awardee, the University’s graduate and deputy director of Yagodnoe sports and recreation center Julia Usikova, received her badge in the Youth category.
“Although today I am a staff member of ITMO University, I was nominated in the Youth category for my accomplishments in the social sector which, for the most part, date back to my student years, though I’m continuing to work on them even now that I’ve graduated. I’m really honored to receive this award. Awardees are nominated by their university, so the fact that my activities were singled out in such a way was at the same time a surprise and an immensely important recognition. I’ve never received anything of such scale and in this field; most awards I’d gotten previously were more arts-based, and here it was my contribution into the volunteering, civic and student communities that was recognized. It makes you want to do even more than you’ve done already. I’ve still got five more years left to be nominated as a Mentor, and I want to take these years to really grow as a person, and help other young people, ITMO University students I work with, develop their volunteering potential,” shared Julia Usikova.
