Champions of the CASE-IN School League will visit SIBUR, Russia's largest petrochemical complex

At the end of August, the winners of the two seasons of the School League The International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" From Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, they will embark on an educational trip to Tobolsk to SIBUR's largest petrochemical complex in Russia, ZapSibNeftekhim. The CASE-IN Championship has been included in the the presidential platform "Russia – the land of opportunities". 

The opportunity to get acquainted with high-tech production was presented to young researchers by the partner of the School League "CASE-IN" − SIBUR, which has been developing cases for high school students for the third year in a row. ZapSibNeftekhim is the flagship of modern petrochemistry, where the best possible technical, technological, digital, and environmental solutions are used, so it is useful for students planning to connect their future with the Russian industry to visit such a facility.

"In 2021, SIBUR once again became one of the best employers among the largest Russian companies according to HeadHunter. For many years, the company has been involved in training specialists for its enterprises. As part of the school-university-enterprise collaboration, SIBUR in the Tyumen Region implements the SIBUR Classes curriculum, aimed at preparing high school students for admission to the best universities in the country in specialized chemical technology areas. Prospective students of partner universities, including graduates of SIBUR Classes, are awarded targeted training contracts involving practical training at petrochemical enterprises and additional educational intensive courses with immersion in the basics of production and corporate culture. The best university graduates are employed by our company. The CASE-IN championship and case development on topics relevant to the petrochemical industry are a great opportunity for the guys to prove themselves and become a potential participant in the targeted training program for both our company and the modern petrochemical industry.", – notes Senior business partner of ZapSibNeftekhim Andrey Belov.

The General Director of ANO Russia – the Land of Opportunities, a member of the Board of Directors of PJSC SIBUR Holding, gave a parting message to the ambitious guys Alexey Komissarov: "Your victory in the CASE-IN School Engineering Championship League speaks to your perseverance and desire for growth, and I encourage you to develop further by participating in both this and other platform projects. Now there are 26 of them, and among them there are contests, competitions and Olympiads for schoolchildren. As a member of SIBUR's Board of Directors, I would like to highlight the company's effectiveness and strategic programs to attract talented young people. I have visited the ZapSibNeftekhim plant several times. It is a unique complex, one of the most modern enterprises in the world, and it is in such facilities that you are waiting for purposeful young people who are ready to develop and solve the strategic tasks of the industry in the future. May this educational trip be remembered for the rest of your life and become a new incentive to study and develop!"

In 2020, the team from Novosibirsk, Engineers of the Hidden Leaf, became the best team in the School League in the direction of "Solving the case". In 2021, the Neptume team from Kemerovo had no equal.

Novosibirsk residents, graduates of the energy class of PJSC RusHydro at Novosibirsk School No. 112 Konstantin Pavlenko, Roman Mikhalchenko, Kirill Zatolokin and Alexander Grebennikov, received the coveted prize by developing plastic collection solutions for its subsequent processing in Russian cities.

Founder and Co-chairman of the Organizing Committee of the CASE-IN Championship Artem Korolev He says that for 10 days, schoolchildren worked on ideas for collecting and sorting plastic waste in a conditional special economic zone in Tobolsk, paying special attention to the environmental situation. As a result, the high school students came up with activities to draw public attention to responsible consumption; developed a memo on proper waste disposal and poster layouts for social advertising focused on environmental protection; designed separate trash collection baskets for homes and offices.

"The School League competitions are designed to teach high school students how to work in a team, search for and analyze information, generate and present ideas. One of the main objectives of the proposed case is to instill in the minds of young people the belief in the need for responsible consumption and respect for nature.", − This is Artem Korolev.

Novosibirsk residents were inspired by the embodiment of environmental ideas in the Hammarby Schestad ecoregion in Stockholm and proposed the concept of the Tobolsk EcoTown special economic zone. According to the students, the functioning of enterprises in Tobolsk Ecotown will be based on a cyclical economy with minimized emissions of harmful substances and renewable energy.

The key idea of the team was to transport waste for reuse to a collection point via underground or surface pipelines. The champions also offered to teach residents how to properly sort and dispose of garbage and provided game events for garbage collection with awards for the winners and a large annual eco-exhibition with lectures, master classes and competitions.

"We expect new opportunities from the upcoming trip, first of all, professionally. Of course, we would like to "build bridges", because perhaps this company will turn out to be our employer or a place for practice and internship. We need to develop professional competencies. After all, today, to be a successful specialist in a large company, you need to be a "superman" in everything.", − said the captain of the team Konstantin Pavlenko.

Talented Novosibirsk residents were supposed to go to Tobolsk last year, but due to the epidemiological situation in the world, the trip was postponed for a year, and during this time the guys managed to become students. Alexander Grebennikov and Kirill Zatolokin entered Novosibirsk State University: Alexander studies at the Faculty of Physics, Kirill studies information technology. Roman Mikhalchenko and Konstantin Pavlenko chose Novosibirsk State Technical University: Roman entered the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Electronics, and Konstantin is studying the field of Thermal Power Engineering.

However, as the guys note, during the year they were able to learn more about ZapSibNeftekhim and better prepare for the trip.

The winners from Kemerovo are a team of students from the Center for Children's Scientific and Engineering Creativity at KuzSTU "Unique", created with the support of the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation.

Konstantin Vorotkov (city Classical Lyceum), Maxim Makhankov (school No. 44) and Alexey Pleshkan (Lyceum No. 23) proposed a solution to the case "Secrets of sustainable development of the Amur region". The students assessed the impact of the Amur gas Chemical complex under construction on the social development, economy and environmental situation of the region.

Konstantin Vorotkov He said that the champions used the best practices of SIBUR and Gazprom, innovative methods and devices that are just beginning to appear on the market. The guys also developed and demonstrated a prototype of a protective helmet with a smart assistant. All this became the basis of a successful result.

"During the upcoming trip, it is interesting to see the latest developments used by employees of a large industry company. We want to become experts in our field, so we must constantly learn something new and not stop in our development. A visit to Russia's largest petrochemical plant will be an important step in the long process of our development.", − Konstantin Vorotkov noted.

The champions are completing their final preparations and packing their bags. On August 27, they will have a meaningful tour, during which they will see the inside of ZapSibNeftekhim's production sites, receive guidance from the company's young specialists and the knowledge necessary for further development.