Literary recital with a rose for each girl

Word Environment, the second session at Artek, has concluded with the final large-scale theatrical show. These three weeks have become a journey to the world of language and literature for 2,000 children from all over the country. The story shown on the stage on Dvortsovaya Square on the final night reminded them once again about the key events of the session. And every girl received a beautiful rose for International Women’s Day celebrated the day before.

During the Word Environment session, the Artek children participated in the Reading Together and Artek’s Best Book projects, recorded the first Artek audiobooks, filmed booktrailers and tried their hand at creative writing during the View From the Window contest. The performance on Dvortsovaya Square united such authors as Pushkin, Tyutchev, Barto, Mayakovsky and Yesenin as if symbolizing the continuity of the literary tradition. Throughout the evening, the participants quoted lines from the classics’ works.

Summing up the session, Artek’s director Alexei Kasprzhak quoted one of the many talented children’s texts written during these three weeks: “Sometimes I believe that thoughts are like clouds. They are quick and fickle, and they are moving constantly. But the sky is not. It is deep and endless. Right now I am the sky. It is good to have the sky in your head. You do not live by the clouds of thought, but by feelings and emotion. You live for real.”

“I think that these words by Yulia Shlykova from Perm deserve to be written and read. In many ways they define what happens here, at Artek,” the head of the International Children’s Center said.

As custom has it, Alexei Kasprzhak invited birthday boys and girls onto the stage and congratulated them. He also awarded the most active children with the main prize of the session: The Star of Artek. The winners are chosen by the children. This time, these were Aina Murtazova from the Perm Territory (Khrustalny camp), Angelina Rumyantseva from the Arkhangelsk Region (Lazurny camp), Danil Koryakin from the Trans-Baikal Territory (Morskoi camp), Alexander Goryachev from Sevastopol (Rechnoi camp), Yekaterina Shapovalova from Bashkortostan (Yantarny camp) and Alexander Litvinov from the Voronezh Region (Kiparisny camp).

In response, the “Artek stars” submitted to the head of the children’s center their proposals regarding the Decade of Childhood declared in Russia in 2018–2027. These initiatives will be passed on to the participants of the next session, who will put the draft document to a vote in a children’s referendum on March 16.

“It is important that the Decade of Childhood program is not just discussed in Moscow behind closed doors but that we, the children, have a say in it too,” Dmitry Pudovkin from Volgograd (Khrustalny camp) believes. “I would highlight the project to create international schools after the Russian Peoples’ Friendship University among our proposals. I advise the children of the next session to have their own opinions on the work, but I think they will understand and appreciate our ideas. Teenagers speak the same language and have the same problems.

In conclusion, after the main prizes were awarded and the Artek children hugged each other and formed the camp circles one last time, a little miracle happened. Each girl received a beautiful rose to mark International Women’s Day celebrated the day before. And the traditional Artek fireworks against the night Crimean sky became a souvenir from the amazing session for everyone.