Schoolchildren under the guidance of the mentor of the Leningrad RDU are finalists of the CASE-IN championship

Students of school No. 334 in the Nevsky district of St. Petersburg, under the guidance of their mentor, Maria Rezaeva, a leading specialist in the Electrical Modes Service of the Leningrad RDU, reached the final of the School League of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship, which is held annually with the support of the presidential platform "Russia – the land of Opportunities." The general partner of the Electric Power Industry section is JSC System Operator of the Unified Energy System.

This year, 10 school teams from the northern capital took part in the first regional qualifying stage of the CASE-IN School League. The guys were solving a case on the topic of "Lean manufacturing".

Maria Rezaeva, as a member of the Club of Winners of the PEAK Championship, acted as a mentor for high school students who decided to link their lives with engineering in the future. 

The initiator of the school's case study group is Alexander Guy, who has been an expert at the championship for 6 years. "I have always attended my 334th school, from which I graduated," notes Alexander. "At one of the meetings with the director Natalia Nikolaevna Nagaichenko, we thought about how we could be useful to each other. I told them that I can give children useful knowledge about IT and project activities, and also told them about the CASE-IN championship. The director was interested in this idea, and I started leading a circle. It has been in existence for more than 3 years, but starting this year we decided to involve the Winners and Prize-winners Club of the CASE-IN championship in order to develop engineering competencies in children."

"Every Saturday, the winners of the championship, including me, conducted one and a half hour classes for the guys," says Maria Rezaeva. – Together we trained in solving cases, learned how to work in a team, with information, and prepare a feasibility study for a project. As a result, 2 teams of tenth graders from 334 schools entered the first full-time semi-final of the school CASE-IN league. My team called "Gentlemen" took the first place, and the guys from the same school also took the second place. Nikita Kholmov (PJSC ROSSETI North-West) acted as their mentor. Both teams will compete for victory in the finals of the school league."

Daniel Bob, captain of the Gentlemen's team, notes that despite the fact that he only passed the qualifying stage, he gained new knowledge and experience that will be useful to him in the future.

"The role of team captain allowed me to improve my leadership skills, I learned how to set tasks more clearly for the guys, search and structure information. The experience of public speaking in front of the championship experts and industry professionals was also useful. I have gained new connections that will be useful in the future, and I am sure that the employer will be interested in me when he sees in my resume the experience of participating in the engineering CASE-IN championship," said Daniel.

The final will be held in Moscow at the end of May 2024, where St. Petersburg schoolchildren will compete with the best schoolchildren from all over the country.

Champions and prize–winners will receive additional USE points upon admission to bachelor's degree programs at one of the partner universities of the championship. In addition, they will receive invitations to industry youth educational forums and will be able to travel around Russia as part of the "More than a Trip" program.