Siberian FLEX Reunion Heats up Alumni Plans for 2009

A total of thirty Siberian FLEX alumni representing Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul and Yurga assembled at the Novosibirsk Regional Library on December 20 to kick off an alumni reunion. Organized by Novosibirsk alumni coordinator Olesya Petrenko ’07, the reunion brought together students from diverse age groups and backgrounds in a collaborative, intimate forum at the Goluboe Ozera (“Blue Lake”) Retreat Center, located on the banks of the Berd River, 30 kilometers south of Novosibirsk. By including five interactive workshops, several planning meetings, and a diverse array of group exercises that helped alumni amplify their personal skills, the reunion both celebrated the program and made broad strokes towards improving it.

During the two days of the event, American Councils’ Novosibirsk Office Director and Educational Advising Center (EAC) Director, Natalia Aulchenko; Novosibirsk Program Director, Emily Danyluk; and professional business coach Svetlana Zateeva helped to foster an instructive and enjoyable environment by making contributions from their areas of expertise. Most importantly, however, the reunion gathered widespread alumni in a single location to allow them to impart their experiences to one another, share successes, and above all, constructively plan for the future.

Bright and early on December 20, former Tomsk city representative Vladislav Ilyashenko ’06 began hosting icebreakers for those alumni arriving at the Novosibirsk Library. As the groups trickled in during the subsequent hours, he made introductions, organized large activities, and ensured that everyone got to know one another. That afternoon, Olesya Petrenko ’07 and Emily Danyluk began the reunion’s opening ceremonies. Olesya highlighted the reunion goals, and Emily emphasized current alumni projects, such as the new FlexTouch Siberian blog, the Alumni Grant Program, upcoming grant-writing seminars at the American Corner, and the United Colors of FLEX 15th Anniversary initiative. Natalia Aulchenko followed with a presentation on international education. Natalia spoke about necessary preparations for studying abroad, the role of the EAC in helping alumni to meet their goals, and the Eurasian Undergraduate Exchange (UGRAD) and Muskie programs, before the alumni piled onto a bus that would take them south to the retreat center.

That evening’s activities included an alumni forum led by Vladislav Ilyashenko ’06, and a project planning session supervised by Olesya Petrenko ’07. Vladislav’s forum helped alumni to focus their attention on goals, such as recruiting and training a city representative for every city, setting up an alumni talent show, hosting more frequent reunions, establishing common Siberian projects, and working with the elderly. Olesya’s planning session (titled REAL, for React Enhance Achieve Learn), divided alumni into groups to spend fifteen minutes on brainstorming projects they could easily implement with already-existing resources. A graffiti-art project in Novosibirsk, work with a dog-pound in Kemerovo, and volunteering at a child care hospital for the disabled in Tomsk were the direct outcomes of the group work. The day ended by summarizing major alumni successes, like Yulia Shakurova’s (’04) new position with Coca-Cola as an English speaking-club leader at her school, Daria Afanasova-Aleeva’s (’02) soon-to-be published article in the business magazine “Ekspert Siber” (Siberian Expert) and Daria Mandarova’s (’07) first-place win in the Altai-Krai oblast English contest.

The second day of the reunion opened with Emily Danyluk speaking on how best to make the FLEX experience a marketable asset in résumés. Emily discussed avoiding simply praising the time spent in the U.S., and instead focusing on the key hard and soft skills that were acquired. Following Emily’s discussion, business coach Svetlana Zateeva gave an extensive talk on the “Seven Steps to Achieving your Goals,” which was later voted the best presentation of the reunion. Before the bus departed from Goluboe Ozero, alumni filled out assessments of the reunion. Olesya Petrenko ’07 and Emily Danyluk were voted the best session coaches, and virtually all alumni expressed their high opinion of the reunion. The alumni look forward to making this an annual tradition.