On 28 May 2021, another academic year finished at the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom. It ended in a joyful and festive way: the winners and prize-winners of the Olympiads in Physics and Mathematics of different levels held in the past and current academic years received their diplomas and commemorative gifts.

The awarding ceremony began with the winners of the 29th Open Olympiad in Physics and Mathematics among schoolchildren of 6-7th grades, in which schoolchildren of 4-5th grades also have been trying their hand for several years. The Olympiad was prepared and conducted by teachers of the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom Alexander Anatolievich Leonovich, Evgenia Igorevna Zhabitskaya, Mikhail Vyacheslavovich Zhabitsky, Valentin Victorovich Sadilov. JINR staff members A. Yu. Verkheev and M. V. Shirchenko took part in the awarding ceremony. Children were also greeted by Head of the Dubna City Administration S. A. Kulikov. As A. A. Leonovich emphasised, it is not the first time when Sergey Aleksandrovich participates in such events, and his help saved the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom from closing ten years ago. The Head of the City warmly congratulated children and thanked the teachers the efforts of whom mean a lot for everything. In addition, certificates on completion of study at the MIPT Distance School of Physics and Technology were awarded to schoolchildren who graduated from it. Prize-winners of the Olympiads received booklets about JINR, and the winners got original T-shirts and books “Physics without formulas” and “Miracles of technology” by A. Leonovich.

“This year we managed to conduct all the classes, and, despite the pandemic, we have achieved a lot over this and last years,” A. A. Leonovich said for our newspaper. “Whatever happens with education in the city further, the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom is going to work. It somehow happened that schoolchildren from 4th to 11th grades showed good results this year. We wish everyone good health, maybe some of our students will fight this COVID-19 infection in the future – this year some of our children went on a course on Biology and Medicine. We have a lot of good children, there is a demand for Biology and Medicine Open Classroom as well – we will continue working!”

“Thanks to the support of JINR the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom works free of charge for schoolchildren of Dubna and other cities,” emphasised M. V. Zhabitsky. “Schoolchildren from Zaprudnya, Kimry, Dmitrov come to us to study. Although they spend a lot of time commuting, they find it useful. This year is quite successful as 8-grade school students performed very well. For the first time in many years we have participants in the final stage of the Maxwell Olympiad, this is an analogue of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren in Physics – tasks have the same level of complexity and the level of competition is as high. This year, the final stage was held in two places – Sochi and Dolgoprudny. Two of our students, Taisia Zlotnikova and Ivan Voronyuk, made their way to the final stage and they got into the list of the 120 strongest schoolchildren in Russia in Physics. Vanya was very close to the prize-winning places, but Tasya became a prize-winner of the Maxwell Olympiad in Physics. Tasya is also a prize-winner of the Euler Olympiad in Mathematics, which is also a very difficult All-Russian Olympiad with high rivalry.

Schoolchildren of 8th grade did a very good job, but we see that the schoolchildren of the 6-7th grades are also striving for the high results. So far, they have been performing at the regional level, but this is also a very good start. Such successes stimulate children to study Physics and Mathematics deeper. Success of high school students helps younger students understand that winners of Olympiads are the same ordinary schoolchildren, and the set goals are not fantastic but quite real. Many our students then choose Physics as their profession. One of the graduates of the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom Grigor Adamyan, who was a prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiad for Schoolchildren in Physics and had other achievements, entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology without exams. Now he is in his second year and comes to Dubna every week to deliver a course on Olympiad Physics at the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom. He was worried that he would not be able to cope as he had no teaching experience but everything worked well: those students who are taught by him have already shown good results this year. High school children show through their personal example that studying Physics can be interesting and exciting, that you can devote your life to this.

The results of the 29th Open Olympiad on Physics and Mathematics among 6th grade students are the following.

The winners became Dmitry Gomzin (Gymnasium No. 11) and Pavel Zabrodin (Lyceum No. 6), prize-winners are Anton Agapov (Lyceum № 6), Daria Davydova (Zaprudnya Gymnasium), Sergey Zhabitsky (4th grade, Lyceum No. 6), Sabina Kulikova (Gymnasium v3), Potap Maksimov (Gymnasium №11), Daria Razumnaya (Lyceum No. 6), Ilya Strizhenov (Lyceum No. 6), Rodion Ulitin (School No. 9).

The winner among 7th grade students was Georgy Lubashevsky (Lyceum No. 6), and the prize-winners were Elizaveta Molchanova (School No. 1), Alexandra Novichkova (Gymnasium No. 11), Ulyana Savelyeva (School No. 1). Olympiad tasks and the list of winners can be found on the Physics and Mathematics Open Classroom website.

Olga Tarantina, JINR Weekly Newspaper