A great success in "The Big School-Break"

      The pedagogical college team has again entered the top 20 best secondary vocational education institutions based on the results of the all‑Russian competition.

      A spacious, bright classroom, lots of colorful items around, multicolored furniture, posters with catchy inspirational slogans on the walls — this is what the Big Change club looks like at the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College. Here active and initiative young people socialize, share their ideas, and implement new projects.

      They were able to create such a space several years ago — after their first victory in the team track of the all‑Russian Big Change competition, winning two million rubles. This year the college students once again became first‑degree laureates, receiving a deserved cash prize.

      Irina Tukhman, deputy director for academic and scientific work at the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College, mentor of Big Change Club No. 52 “Locator,” and coordinator of the regional league of Big Change clubs, told us about the club members’ activities.

      A club of energetic and talented people

      According to her, the well‑known all‑Russian competition is especially interesting because it allows young people to demonstrate their competencies in various fields; participation can be either individual or as part of a team.

      The history of the Big Change community at the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College began in 2021, when Irina Vladimirovna joined an initiative group of mentors from across the country who were developing, at the All‑Russian Children's Center Artek, the concept for creating and developing a new form of association for children and adults — Big Change clubs. Their goal is to develop children's project skills, build personal competencies, and support and implement initiatives. The Big Change club can include not only students from the organization on whose basis it was created. Currently, Locator has about thirty members of different ages, including pupils from lower, middle and upper grades and college students. Such an age‑diverse composition helps young people learn to communicate and hone their interaction skills.

      Irina Vladimirovna explains:

      – The activities of our community are not limited exclusively to preparing for the competition. The club’s task within the educational organization is, first and foremost, to give young people a place to share their unique ideas and to implement not only large‑scale but also local projects. For example, one participant — Ivan Pogrebnyak — suggested a useful idea: so as not to take liquid soap on trips, which can leak in a suitcase, make a small branded shaped soap in the Big Change style. Now it is given as a gift to all club members who go on trips.

      Millions — for the museum

      Over the years the club’s members — both students and schoolchildren — have regularly achieved success in the competition, becoming winners and prize‑winners. The youngsters went on a “Dream Journey” and received individual cash prizes. A separate story is the victory in the team track. By agreement with the administration, the children themselves decide how to spend the prize money. Last time the two million ruble award was enough not only to equip a meeting room for club members in the college, but also to refurbish the cafeteria and renovate one of the classrooms. Now the students plan to spend the millions on developing an existing project at the pedagogical college — the Museum of the Primary School Pupil.

      – The initiative to create it belongs to our alumna — also a Big Change winner — Ekaterina Kashina. She took part in the competition two years ago, and her project received high marks from the experts. Ekaterina became the recipient of a personal prize of one million rubles. Then we began collecting exhibits, among which items related to the school life of primary school pupils are of special interest, — Irina Vladimirovna says.

      The college is still collecting exhibits, but the Big Change team decided to diversify the museum’s activities: not only to display objects that show how primary education was conducted in different historical periods, but also to hold cultural and family gatherings, conferences for schoolchildren on the history of education, and themed events for teachers.

      The winners plan to spend the cash prize on modern equipment for the museum space: purchasing interactive tables, panels, books, and organizing a group work area with comfortable poufs and sofas.

      – Sometimes we hold events that, it would seem, have nothing to do with the professional training of pedagogical college students, – explains Irina Tukhman. – For example, a braiding championship was recently held. In Soviet times, caregivers and primary school teachers could easily braid “koloski,” “baranki,” and “korzinochki” — popular hairstyles of schoolgirls in the last century. We tested how our female students would cope with such a task, and then taught them how to braid quickly and correctly.

      A modern space

      This year, participating in the competition with a team project to develop the museum was no easy task: the pedagogical college team worked in two different lineups. The mentor filed the application with already experienced students — Yaroslav Titov, Aleksandra Aristova and Arina Molkova. But since, under this year’s rules, they could not travel to the in‑person stage, newcomers to Big Change — Amin Makhmutov, Anastasia Barinova and Veronika Kuznetsova — flew to Krasnoyarsk.

      – All the team members did a great job! They developed the project thoroughly, completed the tasks, and endured tremendous pressure under tight time constraints. A pleasant bonus was the large number of excursions around the Krasnoyarsk region that the team members were able to attend, – says Irina Tukhman.

      In her opinion, participation in Big Change is always a challenge. You need not only to come up with an interesting initiative, but also to competently develop the project and implement it:

      – As a leader I help the students refine their ideas, find partners, monitor timing, and provide methodological guidance. The competition rules change, but one thing remains constant: Big Change participants are people who want and are ready to make the world a better place!

      Competently

      Mikhail Tarasov, director of the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College:

      – It is the college’s tradition to always support the initiatives of students and teachers aimed at personal and professional development, both morally and, where possible, financially. The club’s work organically complements the college’s educational and upbringing activities. From my side, I highly appreciate the high level of activity among its members. It would be good if the number of students and teachers involved in the movement grows every year. Such professionals, inspired themselves, can inspire their pupils.

      This year, in the team track of Big Change, the college entered the top 20 for the second time in the movement’s history! Undoubtedly, the club leader Irina Vladimirovna Tukhman deserves much of the credit for this success. It is quite logical that the grant funds will go toward developing the museum located at our institution: in 2030 Dzerzhinsk will celebrate its 100th anniversary. The city’s education system occupies a worthy place in its history. I believe that the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College, which has been training professional specialists in this field since 1983, could be the best place to house a museum of the city’s education.

      Opinion

      Veronika Kuznetsova, student of the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College, participant in this year’s team competition:

      – It was my first time taking part in the Big Change competition, and this experience has been one of the brightest in recent times. We met great people from different parts of the country. It’s amazing how quickly you can find common ground when everyone shares the same goals and is inspired by the same things. There was really no competition among us; everyone chatted warmly. Of course, there were difficulties. It was especially hard to adapt to the intensive schedule: lots of tasks, short deadlines, the constant need to think quickly and creatively, to format everything precisely according to the instructions, to distribute parts of the tasks quickly and work in a coordinated way.

      But that’s what tempered our team. I am sincerely happy for all the students and our mentor. Looking back, I evaluate our project with pride: it is realistic, useful, and I hope we will manage to implement it.

      Ksenia KNYAZEVA. Photo from the archive of the Dzerzhinsky Pedagogical College