Last week, on October 16, BNTU chose its best student. It was Ksenia Korteleva, who is studying at the FMME. We talked with the winner of the “BNTU Student of the Year 2024” competition about her life, participation in the project and future plans.
– Let's start from the beginning. How did you decide to go to the casting?
– To be honest, I planned to participate in the "Student of the Year" next year, in my third year, because this year I was immersed in curating: I wanted to focus on helping first-year students and take part with them in important events for the faculty.However, my entourage persistently sent me a link to the application and after consulting with friends and teachers, I decided that I need to go.I found out about the fact that I made it to the finals when I was resting at home. With the support of my parents, I decided that I would try to cope with everything no matter what.
Ksenia grew up in the village of Labno-ogorodniki and studied at school in an agricultural town nearby.During this time, she graduated from music school in the classes "Vocal" and "Piano", independently mastered the ukulele and guitar, and also studied at a modeling school, after which she worked with relevant agencies for a year, simultaneously studying perfectly.The girl also paid great attention to participation in competitions from the school. Despite the fact that only five people studied in the class with Ksusha, they achieved good results as a team.
– I participated in many competitions. We competed in marching, collecting machine guns, providing first aid, etc.Our team won very often and we went to the city and regional stages. At the same time, I was a member of the school's cultural affairs club were staged theatrical and vocal creative performances.
The girl's love for creativity did not disappear when she entered the BNTU: Ksenia is a member of the national theater "SaTrAp" of the Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition, she is engaged in the school of presenters "Debut", and on the basis of the faculty – in the “Sunrise” dance group and the creative group of the student council of the FMME.
Ksenia always has a lot of creative ideas, which the girl confirmed at the finals with unusual numbers. For example, in a business card contest, she talked about herself through the cartoon "Puzzle". On stage, Ksyusha shared that various emotions help her develop as a person, because they are the ones that move her forward. The student demonstrated her creative abilities through a choreographic production about marionette dolls.
– The ideas came to mind by themselves when I found out that I had made it to the finals. My main goal was to show that I am a real and sincere person.These are the character traits that I value most in myself. That is why I decided to tell about human emotions in the business card with the help of understandable and accessible images, and in the creative issue – to emphasize that only we forge our lives. Even if it seems that we are unable to change something, it is not so, we just need to get rid of the constraining factors.
"Beyond your reality" is the slogan of the "BNTU Student of the Year" competition this season. Ksenia admitted that, as a finalist, she repeatedly went beyond the usual during her training. In addition to dancing solo on stage for the first time, the student staged creative performances on her own for the first time and organized rehearsals.
– I'm a pretty gentle person, so it was difficult for me to be strict during the work process. There was a moment when none of the participants came to the rehearsal at 8 a.m., because everyone overslept. Then I realized where I should work on myself. Closer to the final of the competition, I felt that I could be not only a participant in the number, but also a director. If it weren't for the "Student of the Year", I probably wouldn't have discovered these traits in myself.
Despite the temporary difficulties in the team, Ksenia admits that she was very lucky with the support group. During the preparation, there was love and mutual respect in the team, which greatly supported her in difficult moments. All the team members offered their ideas and what the audience saw on stage on the day of the final was the result of everyone's hard and painstaking work.
– Everything is clear with the support group, but what was the atmosphere between the finalists?
– To be honest, at first I thought that we would not get along with the guys, because at the first meeting everyone was silent and shy. However, after the first team building, I immediately felt a friendly atmosphere.Then everything is very good: we even have a shared chat now so that we can meet after the competition. There is no such thing that I want to single out anyone as the best or the worst: a very strong creative team gathered at the competition, and seeing everyone's numbers, I admired all of us very much.
Of course, a competition is a competition, and there is always one winner in it. How the jury members chose him among the many talented contestants remains to be guessed, but the answer to the question of what Ksenia became the winner for herself, the girl knows for sure. The holder of the title "BNTU Student of the Year" stressed that professionalism is learned in the ability to act in unforeseen situations, and this, unfortunately or fortunately, happened to her.
– In my business card, the guys played different emotions, and each of them had a balloon of a certain color: anger – red, nostalgia – pink, envy – green, and so on.Since we ordered the balloons quite late, we never rehearsed the business card with them. We cheated them on the general run at 9 a.m., and after that our task was to ensure the balls live until the final.And at the concert I stand on the stage, say my text and realize that joy does not have its yellow ball. She hands me another person's orange ball, and at that moment there are so many silent apologies in her eyes that I almost laughed right on stage. During the performance, she pretended that this was how it should be and when we returned backstage, she asked what happened.The guys admitted that they had burst a yellow balloon and began to apologize, but I just laughed and kissed our joy on the cheek. In fact, I am very grateful to the guys for not saying anything before the performance, because I would have started to get very nervous.
– You've come a long way. Looking back, what do you think the student of the year should be like?
– Of course, you can say a lot about the fact that the student of the year is a person who knows how to dance, sing or speak in public. However, when we talk about the best student, we are talking about a person who knows how to do everything and everywhere: participate in conferences, volunteering, social projects.The student of the year is someone so multifaceted that sometimes you just look and wonder how he manages everything. And, of course, the student of the year is a person who does everything selflessly and sincerely. For me, this is the most important thing in people.I believe that if you do everything with a kind heart and pure thoughts, then victory will be pure. Not for the evil of someone, but for the joy of yourself and others. When you don't have to figure out what to say about yourself on a business card, but just stand up and invite others into your life, it speaks volumes for you.
Ksenia is waiting for a casting call to participate in the city stage of the competition. There is an opinion that in order to rise to the next step in any business, you need to learn to thank those who helped you cope with the previous stage. We asked the girl who deserves a special thank you from her after the university finals.
– Probably anyone would start with their parents. I am very grateful to them for the contribution they have made to my upbringing and education. They called every day, asking how I was. Unfortunately, they did not manage to come to the finals, but when my mother found out that I had won, she shed a lot of tears of happiness. I want to thank my former teachers, because each of them bit by bit made me the one the audience saw on stage.I would like to express my gratitude to the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs Natalia Andreevna Penyaz, who insisted that I still go to the casting, and gave me great motivation throughout the competition. I am immensely grateful to all the students of FMME who participated in my performances, worked with technical support and helped with costumes. I would also like to thank our second mother, Deputy Dean for Educational Work Tatyana Anatolyevna Prots, for her boundless support. I also have an insanely many friends: after the "Student of the Year", about 150 people wrote to me with congratulations, and I would like to thank each of them once again.
In turn, we thank Ksenia for the interview and wish her a successful performance at the upcoming casting, as well as success in her educational and social activities.
