In Volgograd Region witnessed JSC Stroytransgaz carrying out Navigator Vocational Guidance Project

In 2016 Volgograd Region (VR) witnessed JSC Stroytransgaz carrying out Navigator Vocational Guidance Project supported by Ministry of Education of Volgograd Region and Regional Committee for Youth Policy headed by Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko.  

The Navigator was organized to assist orphaned kids and children left without parental support in vocational guidance and social adaptation. In 2016 more than 120 residents from seven orphanages and boarding schools have participated in the project. The Navigator’s slogan “Making the Future Together” is derived from the STG slogan “Making the Future”. Thus Stroytransgaz continues its corporate citizenship.

Within the framework of the project the teenagers participated in a series of guided tours: to the construction site of Volgograd-Arena stadium and leading regional enterprises and educational institutions. The teenagers submitted their works (pictures, poems, essays, and photographs) for the absentia competition “My Occupation is My Future”.

The culmination of the project was a two-day Navigator Festival for teenagers of 12—17 years old from orphanages and boarding schools. During the festival the children could communicate with the guests among which were the Volgograd football legend and its third ambassador of FIFA World Cup 2018 Aleksander Nikitin, former charity boy and now a leading Russian expert in social orphanhood Aleksander Gezalov, and Olympic champion Larisa Ilchenko. Those and other successful professionals encouraged the children to future achievements by their own example.

The Navigator Festival provided for training and sports events: vocational guidance, team-building and motivating. They featured an occupation-themed presentation of orphanage teams, Aleksander Gezalov’s lecture “Smart Suitcase”, movie viewing, a lesson on FIFA World Cup 2018 and a futsal match.

The highlight of the festival was the Career Fair where the teenagers have been individually consulted by various specialists including the STG employees both from Moscow office and from the Volgograd Arena site. Experts of the leading companies and educational institutions conducted master-classes and quizzes. The knowledge gained was reinforced during team vocational guidance game “Occupational Alphabet” where the teenagers fulfilled tasks on seven “stations”.

At the moment the project initiators have already got feedback from the Navigator participants. By all accounts the project has proved to be highly efficient as an additional vocational guidance tool for the orphan teenagers.

FEEDBACK

Julia, project participant:
“I’ve just loved the project. It features lots of occupations. Earlier I couldn’t make up my mind, but the project helped me a lot. I knew the names of occupations, but did not know what they were all about. Talking to professionals I have learned many things. Lots of experience, everything was so cool!”

Daniil, project participant:
“I think everybody liked the Navigator. And it was very useful for me. I wanted to be a crane operator, but the project made me realize I would rather go for a welder. Planning to make buses on the Volgabus plant.”

Ruslan, project participant:
“I’m finishing the 9th grade and going to the vocational school. I want to be a plasterer and painter. It looks like one’s job is to draw, but the salary is fair and I feel good about it. I participated in the master-class. First we mixed the plaster, then put it on the board and spread it over the wall. The festival was great; it was an opportunity to learn about and actually try various occupations”.

Lyubov Kleshchina, Headmaster of Tormosin Boarding School:
“Thanks to participation in the project our pupils have not just increased their knowledge of occupations. The key thing is that now they consciously approach their choice of future specialty. Children were highly motivated by communicating to people by their own example demonstrating that one can really succeed in whatever circumstances. By the end of the project self-assessment of children and their self-confidence increased a lot. I hope their participation in the project will boost formation of new attitude towards work and selection of careers”.

Tatiana Cherkashina, Biology and Chemistry Teacher at Uriupinsk Cadet School:
“Children have lots of impressions after the project, they liked many things: guided tours to the enterprises and stadium, communication with high achievers... The emotions will stick in their memory for long. Participation in the project helped to go beyond the boundaries of their experience and the children understood that there is a whole world of various occupations. Our pupils really need such a project”.

Sergey Kamin, the Volgograd Stadium Project Director:
“Presently the workforce deficiency increases, the blue-collar training school is ruined, young people tend to work in offices and commerce rather than on construction sites in far regions. We want to make the work comprehensive and consistent, to demonstrate importance and credibility of constructional and other blue-collar occupations by personal example“.

Aleksander Gezalov, expert in social orphanhood, former charity boy:
“Navigation through life is very important for any child as well as for anybody in general. Such festival format provides children with an opportunity to identify themselves occupationally, to start searching. This search is not always possible within the system. Children should get acquainted with some places from their future now, so to prevent them from getting knocked back afterwards. It means visiting a construction site, factory, vocational school or higher education institution they are going to after a while. Thus they become a matter of course for children who get to know and will not be afraid to come in touch with them. Actual example is of high importance for children. And it is very hard to find such examples for children living in specific environment. I have a vast life experience, and it is necessary for children to see and know it. Someone’s footprints will lead them to getting on their own trails. I believe that today I have left my mark both in memory and in hearts”.

Yelena Slesarenko, Chair of the Volgograd Region Committee for Youth Policy:
“We want to show the teenagers an actual alternative of their future where they act as students and then experts in various spheres of professional life. Our country needs highly skilled workers, and training them starts right from projects like the Navigator – and it is a good start indeed”.

Evgeniya Novosad, the Navigator project initiator, Head of STG Press Office:
“The Navigator Festival is a unique event. There was nothing like it before; neither in form nor in scale. It is a remarkable example of how we can help the orphans combining forces of the governmental authorities, manufacturing enterprises, companies, educational institutions, builders and other blue-collars. We believe we can help the children to become valued specialists and successful people in the future”.