Позитивные изменения. Том 3, № 3 (2023). Positive changes. Volume 3, Issue 3 (2023) - Редакция журнала «Позитивные изменения»

teenagers who exhibit an interest in scientific and technical creative work. By introducing them to the latest technologies at a young age, we can contribute to our city’s growth by supplying it with a fresh influx of talent and technical expertise.

At the same time, our project serves as a valuable resource for children’s career orientation, which will play a pivotal role in shaping their future professions. More than 70 % of the respondents in recent studies by HH.ru and Skypro Online University expressed dissatisfaction with their current job positions. Additionally, almost 90 % of schoolchildren surveyed in the “Ticket to the Future” project run by the Russian Ministry of Education have yet to determine their career paths and are uncertain about where to seek guidance. By addressing this issue in a small industrial city, our project plays a vital role in providing comprehensive career guidance to children and teenagers keenly interested in technical work.

METHODS USED TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM

Methods of work:

1. Technical skill trials, in which children have the opportunity to explore in practice various engineering disciplines such as robotics, electronics, soldering, programming, modeling, and engineering graphics.

2. Career guidance course, which focuses on helping children connect with their own interests and aspirations. It comprises three main components: “Know Yourself,” where children gain insights into their own preferences and interests, “Explore Professions,” which explains the factors influencing the popularity and demand for specific careers, and “Make Informed Choices,” guiding them to make mature decisions that align with their own interests and goals.

3. Vocational exploration tours, conducted with specially trained students who understand how machines and processes function. These tours are hosted by specialists from various enterprises.

4. Mass events and festivals promoting technical creative work (At the end of the academic year, we organize exhibitions showcasing the educational projects created by the children. We invite specialists from different enterprises to provide feedback and words of encouragement).

FUNDS RAISED IN 2022

In 2022, our team received funding from various sources, including a regional subsidy of 150,000 rubles to establish a career guidance program, a grant of 1.2 million rubles for the club’s development from the Reach for Change, and another grant of 50,000 rubles from Impact Hub Moscow.

Continuing our success in 2023, we received a major grant of 1.1 million rubles from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives to set up the First Interregional Robotics Festival of Folk Crafts (http://festival_robototehniki.tilda.ws/).

Furthermore, we also won the Second Presidential Grants Foundation’s Competition in 2023 with our project “33Ampera Career Guidance Education Course for Technically Gifted Children and Teenagers in Murom (Stage Three),” securing an award of 2.3 million rubles.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS

Winners of Reach for Change Competition, incubator participants (2021).

Winners of the Impact Hub Moscow #90DaysChallenge incubator for social start-ups (2022).

3rd place in the semifinals of the “Razumeetsya” Non-profit Management Championship (2022).

WHAT WAS DONE LAST YEAR

During 2022, we made significant progress in reviewing and optimizing our programs. The least effective areas that did not provide practical benefits to the children were removed. Additionally, we established productive collaborations with the folk arts and crafts community in Murom. This effort culminated in the remarkable project of the First Interregional Robotics Festival of Folk Crafts, where each participating group was challenged to create a robot craftsman or a robotic system capable of producing traditional regional products.

DIRECT RESULTS FOR 2022

Our club continues to serve a considerable number of children and teenagers, with around 120–150 participants annually studying in 10 different areas. We established 7 subsidized training groups for 56 young individuals as part of the 33Ampera project.

Furthermore, we have been actively involved in organizing mass events, including The 21st Century Skills career guidance games for schoolchildren, game development quizzes, robot soccer competitions at city celebrations, and highly informative tours to various enterprises. Over the course of one year, our team successfully set up 56 events, collectively impacting and enriching the lives of over 500 children. Some of these events were executed as part of grant projects, while others were introduced solely to present novel and beneficial activities for the kids in our club and the wider Murom community.

SOCIAL EFFECTS ACHIEVED IN 2022

Probably the best way to talk about the social effects of our operations is through the beneficiaries’ stories:[166]

1. Sergey’s mother, a prominent doctor in our town, sought our assistance in evaluating her son’s abilities. She noticed that Sergey would spend his days at his computer, writing programs instead of playing games. Since Sergey’s family was comprised entirely of biologists, his mother was unsure if he had a talent for programming. Thus, we embarked on a deep and productive journey with one of our most gifted students.

Sergey is a reserved child who has difficulty connecting with others. By working closely with his mother, we successfully navigated the child through his teenage crisis, during which he considered quitting programming altogether, and helped him apply for the school Olympics. Many evenings were spent talking with his mother about the challenges he faced in other interest groups, which he would withdraw from after a few months. Our approach involved refraining from any pressure and gradually guiding him towards functional programming and then into object-oriented programming classes.

After 18 months of personalized lessons, Sergey received an invitation to study at a prestigious private physics and mathematics school in Moscow as a successful participant in the All-Russian Programming Olympics. Even after the move, his mother still contacts us from time to time, asking to keep a spot in our schedule for Sergey, as she believes our guidance played a crucial role in steering him towards his