Young shipbuilders of «Sirius»

This summer the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) team took part in the All-Russian contest of scientific and technological projects Major Challenges-2021, which was held in the Sirius Educational Center in Sochi

Stepan MYASOEDOV

Employees of the Сorporation’s enterprises in partnership with the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization National Center for Engineering Contests and Competitions, the Nizhny Novgorod Children’s River Shipping Company, and the MARINET Industry Association arranged a project session called Exploring the Arctic and the World Ocean. For three weeks a team of teenagers (Victor Bender and Ekaterina Ionova - project leaders, Dmitry Petrov, Elizaveta Antropova, Andrey Belov, Sofia Ryabova, Rostislav Dzhuraev, Nikolay Shirokov), using their mentors’ experience, developed a project Emergency rescue vessel on solar-hydrogen power system RE.mora, which got a diploma in the category Best technical solution. The participants created a prototype of catamaran with a complete control system and electrical circuit, tested it on the water, and created a website for the project http://remora.tilda.ws/. For each of the participants, this event became a starting point in applying their knowledge and skills, as well as a reference point in choosing a future profession. We heartily congratulate the whole USC team on this remarkable achievement! Valeria Ditkovskaya (Baltiysky Zavod), the USC expert-mentor, informed us about details of the work on this project.

WHY DOES THE SHIP SAIL?

At our Baltic Shipyard, we actively provide career guidance, including with children of school age. We hold excursions for pupils, telling about shipbuilding technology, and I developed a field lesson Why the ship sails? for younger schoolchildren and even preschoolers. In my school years, I chose between the profession of a teacher, which I liked very much, and the profession of a shipbuilder, following the example of my parents. Anyway, when I chose shipbuilding, I got a very interesting job; by participating in career guidance programs, I have realized my second wish now – to be a teacher.

SIRIUS PROJECT

– Sirius was set up to identify talented kids in science and technology, as well as in sports and art and provide them with opportunities for development supervised by leading teachers, coaches and scientists. Sirius allows the United Shipbuilding Corporation to show such children the shipbuilding industry as one of the opportunities to realize their potential.

The children who completed projects in different areas and became finalists gathered at Sirius and teamed up to do collaborative work in three weeks according to the chosen direction of the competition. Each team makes its own project under the supervision of their tutor and counselor. In addition, all children attend general lectures, and they choose the lectures they want.

USC TEAM

– In my lecture, I told the children about calculations to select the parameters of a future vessel. I told them about the circumstances of a number of sea accidents and showed photos of the most unusual ships. Responding to their questions, I also spoke about the ship construction methods. Children from various areas of research attended the lecture, i.e. Arctic and World Ocean Exploration, Modern Energy and even Space Technology. Then I went on working with a team of students from Arctic and World Ocean Exploration discipline, making a prototype of catamaran for rescue operations. Based on the knowledge they received during lectures, they developed an idea of advantages and disadvantages of a multihull vessel. Through dialogue, they learned how to critically evaluate their decisions and choose the best option among them.

For the children at Sirius, everything was real, and they got a lot out of the three weeks. First, they interacted in teams with cool kids just like themselves. This is very important because at Sirius you can feel real support from each other and from tutors. Such lively kids rarely get real support at ordinary schools. Secondly, the schoolchildren attended lectures by specialists in various industries and science; now they can decide on the industry to work in the future. Thirdly, doing the project in a very short time, they gained experience in setting realistic goals and achieving them. Finally and most importantly: they have seen that adults are interested in them, that they are a value.

NEW STARS

– Students asked if the USC held contests for children. I said yes. Moreover, the children and grandchildren of USC employees are the most active participants. I think it is time to start using contests similar to the 2019–2020 Ambassador Contest as a career guidance platform, but not limited to USC. Everyone should have an opportunity to take part in such contest, hold finals in one of the camps in Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod and other regions, Primorsky Territory. Today, shipbuilding, as well as other industries, is experiencing a serious personnel shortage, and in this regard, it is necessary to pay attention to the possibility of working with children in the regions where USC Group companies are present.

Obviously, those «starlets» whom we will probably bring into shipbuilding with Sirius will be able to take an active part in research developments. These children can think, set goals and achieve them. No doubt, attracting such children to our R&D centers will make a qualitative difference in their work. These kids will not only be able to learn from their elders, but, having flexible young minds, they will also be able to come up with new ideas and put them into practice. «Sirius is looking for such particularly gifted children. However, shipbuilding is also painstaking work of a great number of workers, masters, engineers. Here we need to go the way of attracting more children, holding mass events. Now, many industries and educational institutions choose this way.