Oleg Valenchuk: The heart of Russia beats in the poems and songs of young talents

      On April 27, at the Kirov Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, on April 28 – at School No. 32, and on April 29 – at the Engineering and Railway Lyceum, those who prove with their actions and deeds that the future of Russia is built not only on global initiatives but also created through living poems, drawings, and songs that make the heart stop gathered together.

      A few months ago, the festival-competition "The Fate of Russia is in Your Hands" was announced as part of the All-Russian Author's Song Festival "Greenland" named after Joseph Kobzon. The organizers of the competition were the chairman of the All-Russian Festival "Greenland," State Duma deputy Oleg Valenchuk, and municipal coordinators of the federal project "Navigators of Childhood" in Kirov.

      The competition found a wide response because Russia is not just a territory on the map. Russia is us. It is our families, our heroes, our pain, and our Victory.

      - More than 50 schools from Kirov participated in the competition. This means that almost in every district of the city, children and teenagers took brushes, pencils, microphones, and cameras in their hands and said: "I remember, I am proud," says Svetlana Perminova, a leading expert on the implementation of programs in the field of patriotic education of citizens. - Thank you to Oleg Valenchuk for supporting our initiative to implement such a large-scale creative project.

      In the "Drawing" nomination alone, 240 works were presented. Among them are strict graphic compositions, watercolor sunsets over the eternal flame, portraits of great-grandfathers, and drawings about peace.

      Other nominations of the competition also sparked great interest among schoolchildren. That evening, the laureates and diploma winners presented their works on stage: songs, poems, and videos that touched the jury to the core.

      - We are participants in the school orchestra, where a participant of the Special Military Operation, Alexey Samarin, played many years ago. It was about him that we decided to make a video. We talked to teachers, dug up archival photographs and video recordings. In the process, we learned many interesting facts and received a special pleasure from the work. It is so nice that teachers remember such details about their teachers even decades later, and it’s great to know that heroes are so close. They live on the same street as you or perhaps sat at the same desk you are sitting at now, shared the emotions of 8th-grade students from School No. 27 Daniil Simonov, Anastasia Sharapova, and Ksenia Oblakova.

      The competition "The Fate of Russia is in Your Hands" inspires children and teenagers to actively participate in the life of the country, forming a new generation ready to prove their patriotism through words and deeds.

      - The heart of Russia beats in the poems and songs of young talents, says Oleg Valenchuk. - And these are not just loud words. Through social videos, the kids revealed eternal themes: love for the Motherland, loyalty to duty, the warmth of home, the greatness of the feats of Russia's defenders. The "Greenland" festival today fulfills a vital social mission – it creates a cultural environment where young talents find their voice and confidence that the future of the country is indeed in their hands.