Russian Presentation

Yesterday, on July 14, a long-awaited presentation of the Russian J8 Team finally took place. It was enthusiastically received by other delegates. And not without reason: probably, the only activity that was not performed on the stage was cross-stitch embroidering! Young people managed to reveal all their talents. The show was begun by Pavel Golodov, Mikhail Uretsky and Anton Yurko, who presented a hybrid performance of break-dance and Russian national dances.

«Junior 8» Welcomes a Special Guest!

The J8 Russian Team will never forget this day. Because today the “Junior 8” Summit was attended by… Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, himself! His appearance at the videoconference with Cairo held by one of the international groups was completely unexpected. Vladimir Putin discussed the topics of the Summit with the participants of the videoconference (the J8 Russian Team was represented by Anton Yurko and Mikhail Uretsky).

We wish day had more than 24 hours

J8 Summit goes on! On July 11, the J8 delegates discussed the topic that appealed to them most of all – education. As usually the Russian Team had plenty of suggestions: establishment of an international informational educational TV-channel for teachers (Ariadna Chernova), creating means of teaching children who are at hospitals (Sofia Dzuba), conference for exchanging experience between teachers from different countries (Mikhail Uretsky), combating discrimination of children with various social backgrounds (Pavel Golodov). After a short coffee-break students met Andrey Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science for the Russian Federation. The Russian Team had the opportunity to talk to the Minister in unceremonious atmosphere. Answering questions raised by Anton Yurko and Tatiana Ushakova, Mr. Fursenko told young people that he got engrossed with mathematics during his last years at secondary school due to a very talented teacher and decided to enter the Zhdanov Leningrad State University. Sergey Romanovich gave the Minister a T-shirt with the logo of the J8 Summit; when the Minister put it on, Kirill Levin summarized: “You are one of us now”.

Junior 8 youths focus on tackling development issues

By Janusch Krasberg, Germany
12 July
Pushkin (St. Petersburg), Russia

The Junior 8 opening press conference, attended by eight young people, conveyed a message: We have the opportunity to change something and we will use this chance.

The students had the opportunity to chat with Sir Roger Moore. Happy faces could be seen everywhere – nobody will forget this experience. “Roger Moore is a legend. He is 78 years old and involved in so many projects.“

The delegates discussed HIV/AIDS with a lot of passion and produced a first resolution for action. The delegates also decided to start a discussion on the internet, as their first contribution to helping solve the problem.

During discussions about education, the young people started to think of ways that politicians, parents, teachers and children in developing countries can help to raise the global level of education. One of the proposals is to use the interest on bank loans for development to buy school supplies and to build schools.

That evening, the young delegates had the opportunity to meet Evgenyi Pluschenko, a Russian figure skater and the 2006 Olympic Games champion. Pluschenko said that it was a great experience for the children to meet all together in St. Petersburg: “I am really interested in what you are doing here, because I am also young, and your future is also mine.“

The day concluded with a song on the bus ride home that captured the main challenge facing all Junior 8 delegates: “It is not your fault that the world is like it is, it would only be your fault if it stays like this“.