On November 18, 2016 the staff of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve took part in the autumn research and practical conference held for the students of the Serpukhov region schools and organized by the branch of experimental forestry «Russky Les» (Russian Forest).
The experts of the eco-awareness department became a part of a team of qualified judges, that also included such people as I.B. Khazin, the deputy chief forester of the Shatov forestry; V.I. Mitroshina, the head of the department of municipal land, ecology and control of the Serpukhov Municipal District Administration; M.M. Shovkun, the chief specialist of the department of Information Technology of Serpukhov Municipal District Administration; and father Mikhail, the rector of the church of «The Transfiguration of Christ» in the village of Zhernovki. The judges had done a lot of preliminary work to get to know the projects and their compliance with the assessment criteria.
At the conference the students presented their ecological projects, containing scientific research of acute topics, concerning both children and adults. The young ecologists carried out the research of the chosen problems during the year, observing natural processes and changes, making experiments, performing analysis and comparisons, creating graphs and calculations. Their conclusions and findings were backed up with figures and financial equivalents.
The topics of the presented projects were interesting and various. The participants offered new solutions for addressing various factors of environmental pollution, including a proper use of detergents. Presentations that were particularly well made included those about the methods of growing mushrooms on the school grounds, the dangers of consumption of soda drinks, reports on the value of creating an eco-path «Nature Friend» and the research of the sleep phenomena and factors influencing it and many others.
The youngest talent of the competition became Elizaveta Kosyakina, the fourth grade student of the Turov School. Since she was a pre-school student, Elizaveta has taken an active part in competitions, held by the eco-awareness department. Her «Bird Flat» picture has adorned the Central Mason of the reserve for several years running. The girl is happy to continue her ecological work: she presented a project called «Big secrets of a small butterfly» that astonished all the participants of the conference. Elizaveta has received the «Audience Choice Award» both from the Center of Extracurricular Activities of Serpukhov Municipal District and from the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve.
The judges awarded the third prize to the work «Risk assessment of the impact of heavy metal salts on the growing body» by the eleventh grade student from the Obolensk School, Polina Alekseeva.
The work by the students of Bolshegryzlovsk School, Ilya Valkov, seventh grade, and Roman Syrichko, eighth grade, called «The Opportunity to Grow Mushrooms on the School Grounds» was evaluated as an interesting and thoroughly researched one. It was awarded the second prize.
The project «Development of proposals to restore the quality of the forest ecosystem components, damaged by the drains from the landfill «Syanovo-1», based on the assessment of the environmental situation in the surveyed area» presented by the eleventh grade student of Kurilovsk Gymnasium, Vsevolod Repin, became the winner of the competition. His work contains a lot of observations and research, proven by satellite photography, grids, graphs, financial calculations required for the elimination of detected violations and the disclosure of other troubling issues. Since fifth grade, the young ecologist has participated in such conferences, invariably presenting actual environmental projects. The organizers and the judges expressed their hope that after finishing his secondary education at the gymnasium, Vsevolod will continue his studies in the environmental field at university and will meet the expectations of all the participants, becoming a good specialist and a reliable environmentalist.
