In 2017 - 2023   more than 300 undergraduate students of the IBS bachelor programs did a summer social project as part of volunteer groups of the Danilovtsy Volunteer Movement.

In 2023, the project format was transformed  and online  participation became possible, providing students with the opportunity to expand the geography of sites across Russia. From May 10 to June 15 of this year, IBS students held 96 online meetings at social rehabilitation centers and boarding homes for children and disabled people in Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Belgorod, Smolensk, Volgograd, Vologda, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kemerovo regions, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the cities of Nizhny Novgorod and Bryansk.

The students’ world outlook  changes and expands after completing an internship, which can be seen  in the reports and presentations of students, as well as in open report presentations before new first-year students, coordinators of the Danilovtsy Movement and the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. An example of students’ report can be found HERE.

Quotes from student reports:

Eduard Israelian: "Having met the homeless, I can say that I did not expect people to be so kind and sincere. Each of the people thanked us for everything and wished us only good things".

Mkheyan Zinaida: "Initially I wanted choose another place instead of the Institute of Neurosurgery. BURDENKO, because it is very difficult for me to see sick children. I just wasn't ready. However, after I met the children, all my anxiety and fear disappeared. We spent a very nice day with these wonderful kids".

Alena Kolesnikova: "The most difficult thing for us in this project was control our emotions that arise in the process and pour out so as not to offend the people, for whom we felt so much empathy and a desire to help and support".

Kukava Nika: "During one of our discussions we talked about good and evil, and the curator of our project told us about why prisoners write to the monasteries and how and why they end up in prison. We talked a lot about God, about people and their sins, as well as about what drives people to sin. After a long conversation, we decided to read the letters and share our impressions. "Correspondence with prisoners" turned out to be a very interesting experience, and none of us even expected that we would be so carried away by a conversation about God".

Krasnova Anastasia: "I also appreciated the importance of visiting the office of the Danilovtsy Volunteer Movement, because there we gathered with several other groups, and each of us shared their impressions of the places we visited. Each had a truly emotional story about the real problems they came to see. Each story was filled with something real, stories about children that students made friends with or became especially close. Some students could not hold back tears".

Dmitry Shchurov: "Probably the hospital named after Rogacheva made the strongest impression on me. It so happened that while we were taking the inventory (colored paper, pencils, etc.), our curator took us to a class where teenage patients were rehearsing their prom. It was at this moment that I felt a heaviness in my heart. To live their whole life within four walls, to go outside and eat on a schedule, and what after ... I am grateful for such an experience, bitter, but undoubtedly valuable".

Marina Kazantseva: "Having entered the university, I was pleasantly surprised that the Academy offers a huge number of volunteer practices in completely different fields. It all started with volunteering at the well-known Gaidar Forum. I must admit that it was extremely difficult, but very interesting. However, the desire to prove myself in volunteering in the social sphere never left me. I wanted to understand what it is like to help those in need".

Tsacheva Gabriela: "Volunteering is strength. It's human. For real. Valuable. Important. How can goodness affect life? When someone does something good to another, he looks at life from the bright side, with hope and a desire to move on. With the thought that there will be someone who will help him if he needs it. It is also the goal of the volunteer to act positively for other people around the world by helping them in different ways. Thanks to the social project and the Danilovtsy volunteer movement, I saw the world with different eyes. Although I used to volunteer in my hometown, Bulgaria, sometimes I forget that there is another world - a world of people who need help from others".

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