Novgorod students are taught to leave the comfort zone for the sake of creating strong families

In NovSU hosted the municipal forum “Warm of the family”. Students of the Polytechnic and Pedagogical Institutes of NovSU, as well as the branch of RANEPA, learned to build harmonious relations and quickly get acquainted with each other. To do this, the organizers prepared for them communicative trainings, exercises with “flags” and even unusual meetings on the protocol “Deep contact”, the press service of the Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise reported.

According to the Vice-Rector for Youth Policy of NovSU Olga Kalpinskaya, the event was a logical continuation of a large university program to popularize family values. She noted that the project helps young people build strong relationships and prepares them for conscious parenthood in a psychologically comfortable environment.

Initially, in 2023, the initiative was conceived as meetings with specialists for parents of students and applicants. Then adults helped the younger generation to adapt to the university, choose a profession and find mutual understanding in the family. Later, the format grew into a series of lectures on family creation, age crises and adolescent behavior.

The main objective of this forum was to create an open platform for live communication, which is especially important for students of technical and pedagogical specialties. The program combined theory and practice.

In the first part, participants talked about traditional values, made an interactive map of their expectations and worked with flags. In the second part, students underwent communicative training.

Olga Kalpinskaya explained that previously unknown guys by lot split into pairs and learned to conduct a dialogue. They had to find common interests and values in a short time. For many, this was a real challenge that required overcoming the shyness, but it is this exit from the comfort zone that often gives rise to a strong friendship or family.

The practical block also included the networking “Business card of a couple”, the business game “Forecast” and the final discussion of impressions in the format “Four windows”.

The event was organized by the Department of Youth Policy and the Department of Educational Activities of NovSU.

The project is not planned to be curtailed: the University Psychological Service continues to operate a family living room, where students, young couples and families with children can receive individual consultations of specialists.