Nature’s Helpers
On April 23, 2016, the All-Ukrainian action of subbotniks «Let’s Make Ukraine Clean» took place. Students of Zaporizhzhia National Technical University supported this large-scale event and took part in three subbotniks at once! This is not the first time this year that «Mashinka residents» demonstrate a friendly team and a desire for cleanliness in their hometown. Through a series of subbotniks, we managed to clean up the university territory, divided into sections where individual faculties worked. We took part in putting things in order in the park near the V.I. Lenin port. And this time everyone gladly supported the idea of a big clean-up.
Students of different faculties of our native «Mashinka» united into a huge team and headed to clean up the Oleksandr Garden, the expanses of the «Children’s Railway», as well as the area near the Moskovka River, not far from the «Oak Grove».
Olexandrovsky Garden – a familiar resting place for our students, located directly opposite the main building of ZNTU. It is in the Oleksandrovsky Garden that the Zaporizhzhia Regional Puppet Theater is located. Despite the fact that April 23 was a Saturday and the youth were gathering together for 9 hours, everyone arrived on time and got down to work briskly. Having divided the cleaning places into groups, the students armed themselves with pairs of gloves and garbage bags and went to battle with the dirt. In addition to the fact that the students were doing a good deed for the city and our university, they were also able to breathe fresh air and talk to each other, so the cleaning turned into a fun activity with friends and classmates. After the event, one student of our university answered my question «Why did you decide to go and what was memorable about this subbotnik?» as follows: «The subbotnik that was held was remembered for its organization and pleasant company. As is known, only truly good people fight for the cleanliness of the city. These two reasons make and should make anyone go to events of this kind – meeting like-minded people and saving the environment.
There were even times when people who were just walking by were interested in what we were doing and expressed their gratitude for our concern for the environment. It was also lucky that the weather did not let us down that day, and we worked well together. So, in a few hours, the students put the sidewalks in order, collected garbage from the grass and under the trees, and even decided to clean up the area near the 4th building of the »Mashinka” a little, when the entire park was cleaned up. In my opinion, we accomplished the task one hundred percent!
Simultaneously with the subbotnik near the puppet theater, the subbotnik on the «Children’s Railway» started. We traditionally take part in such a subbotnik twice a year – in autumn and spring. Each time, the «Children’s Railway» pleases with beautiful nature, a cheerful atmosphere, as well as free excursions to the zoo, aquarium, terrarium and winter garden. As is tradition, our students worked hard again and finally rode the train, experiencing joyful emotions and uniting even more.
The third and most difficult subbotnik took place at the same time on the banks of the Moskovka River, in the area of the «Dubovy Gay» Central Park. It required brute male strength and cheerful girlish mood, because the territory, to put it mildly, seemed completely neglected. However, our enthusiasts gathered all their will into a fist and brought order! For which they are greatly respected and thanked by the city residents!
ZNTU will always support good initiatives! Thank you to all the participants of the subbotniks! Your active life position leads to development! Long live «Mashinka»!
Yuliya Khaletska,
Snezhana Vychuzhanina,
Press service of the ZNTU students’ trade union committee
