NEWS

Belarusian students will present their water stewardship projects in Stockholm with support from Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus

Since 2007 Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus has been providing financial and organizational support to Belarusian students to take part in the Stockholm Water Prize held during the World Water Week in Stockholm under the patronage of the crown princesses of Sweden Victoria.

 

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Traditionally, participants of the national contest in Belarus are awarded diplomas and presents from Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus.

Over 15 Belarusian students have been granted an opportunity to compete for victory in Sweden since 2007. Experts of the organizing committee based on the premises of the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History are responsible for carrying out elimination rounds. The results of students’ research projects from all over Belarus are collected and analyzed by the experts.

During the first distance round the organizing committee has selected 19 finalists out of 63 students of general secondary, vocational and additional education institutions. According to the results of the second, in-person round, the jury recognized “Study of drinking water for nitrates presence from non-centralized water sources (wells) in Borisov district” by Khankevich Alexandra and “Algolization of water bodies by a representative of algae strain Chlorella vulgaris IBCE C-19" by Sokol Egor as best water stewardship projects. Alexandra developed her project with her teacher from Borisov Center for Ecology and Tourism, and Egor – with his teacher from Novoyelnia Secondary School No.3, Grodno Region. The jury noted a comprehensive approach to projects’ implementation, work with large amount of data, independent research conduction that students had been carrying out for several years.

 

Участники конкурса Участники конкурса Alexandra Hankevich, Marina Borovko, Egor Sokol

From April onwards, the winners will start preparing a joint project under the supervision of leading scientists-biologists of Belarus: Adamovich B.V and Zhukova A.A. The bulk of work on the project preparation will be covered by Russkikh I.A., a teacher of additional education of the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History, a member of the international jury.

Considering the geography of the winners Borisov-Novoyelnia, the winners will have to work on the project both online and at the Children's Scientific Experimental Laboratory for the Study of Biodiversity and Anthropogenic Factors of Aquatic Ecosystems opened in Minsk under financial support from Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus.

The Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus’s employees take active actions in preparing the winner of the contest for the international final held during the World Water Week in Stockholm. Traditionally, the winner of the national contest presents his/her project to the company’s top management and employees. Marina Borovko, Public Affairs and Communications Manager at Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus, expressed her thoughts about the national contest this year: “The training of environmentalists should not be limited only to scientific research, but it should also contain additional lessons on English language skills improvement”. Participants of the national contest had to meet the following requirements: to fill their project application forms correctly and present projects in English. This has become a significant obstacle for many potential participants.

 

In August two young environmentalists, Alexandra and Egor, will compete for the main award at the Stockholm Water Prize – a blue crystal prize sculpture, as well as cash award for both the winners and their educational institutions. We wish our team good luck and a cherished victory!

Meanwhile, young students interested in ecology can already start searching new project ideas on water stewardship, carrying out research and improving their knowledge of the English language to be ready to apply for the national contest in March 2020.