On Cosmonautics Day, the Volga Region University hosted Healthy Wednesday, an event that has become a tradition and is loved by most students, faculty and staff for its exciting format and the opportunity to try something new. The April Healthy Wednesday programme was packed with creative, sporting and cultural activities.
As part of the sports activities, the Badminton Centre played host to a spartakiade of students, faculty and staff of the university. There was a bitter rivalry for prizes on the court. Among the faculty the first place was taken by the combined team of the Academy of Tennis, the second team of the Institute of Hotel Service and Tourism celebrated its victory.
The Healthy Environment motivated thirty students to take the GTO norms at the Burevestnik complex. The programme of disciplines included a 60 metres run, a long jump with both feet, bending and unbending arms lying on the floor (girls), and a high horizontal bar (boys).
"The structure of the GTO complex has undergone changes," said Gulfiya Gabdulkhaerova, acting head of the GTO Testing Centre. - Now we have eighteen age levels instead of eleven; the number and types of tests in each group have changed. Today, students performed standard tests according to the new rules and showed good physical preparation. We invite everyone to try their strength in the performance of the new standards of the GTO complex.
Aigul Sadvakasova was the best in the 60 meters race among girls, and Damir Utkin among boys. Varvara Firsova was the first in bending and unbending arms lying on the floor, and Niyaz Mukhametzyanov excelled in pulling up from the high bar. Alexandra Chuvakina and Azat Kadrgulov were the best in the forward bend from a standing position. Aigul Sadvakasova and Niyaz Mukhametzyanov were the best in the long jump.
The Healthy Environment sports section also hosted the annual Vertical Run event. Students and teachers from all institutes were able to compete in a staircase race from the second to the twelfth floor. The best results among students were shown by Anastasia Vyalkova, who completed the vertical run in one minute and twenty-four seconds, and Alexander Starkov with a score of 53 seconds. The fastest teachers were Edviga Issinaeva from the Department of Theory and Methodology of Athletics and Rowing, and Konstantin Kopylov from the Aquatics Department.
A lecture series "Sports Stars" was held in the co-working area with the theme "Archery skills - straight to the target". The master class was led by Pavel Semyonov, Deputy Head of the IT Department of Volga Region University and Candidate Master of Sport in Archery.
"Archery, like any other sport, requires a lot of practice," Pavel said at the end of the event. - But the participants of the master class - our staff and students - were eager to use the opportunity to learn something new and to try their hand at it. Now, after three such events, many of them are looking forward to the Archery Biathlon stage. In my opinion, the most outstanding participants in the master class were the students of the gymnastics department and the members of the Educational Work Department.
There were also many interesting meetings in the cognitive section. The round table "From Addiction to Crime" took place in the Tennis Academy where the main speakers were Father Vyacheslav (Shaporov), Head of the Department for Counteraction to Drug Addiction and Alcoholism of the Kazan Metropolia, Abdulaziz Hazrat Dauletchin, Director of the "Yardam Assistance" Rehabilitation Centre for Drug and Alcohol Addicts and Sergey Druzhkov, Director of the Centre for Social and Psychological Monitoring of Deviations.
A session with the candidates for student council positions was held on the sixth floor of the academic building. The candidates shared their impressions from the previous day's activists' school and got to know each other better in order to work together more effectively in the future. The meeting was led by Roman Stepanov, an expert of the Social and Educational Work Department, who answered questions and gave the candidates an opportunity to participate in drafting the activist's code. Meanwhile, a meeting of the seniors was held at the Tennis Academy.
The final event of the April "Healthy Environment" was the viewing of the film "Gagarin: First in Space", timed to coincide with the Day of Cosmonautics.
