Today, on July 15, 55 years later, graduates of the Peat Faculty (now FGDE) met at their alma mater. They still remember how they passed through the university gates, which changed their lives forever.
One of the graduates, Nikolai Berezovsky, now works as a professor at the Mining Machinery Department. The BNTU veteran has six decades of university-related life behind him.
— We graduated from the Peat Faculty in 1971, and on September 1, I have been working here for 60 years. He started as a senior laboratory assistant, then as an assistant, graduated from graduate school, and became an associate professor. Then he was the head of the department for 15 years. At first it was called "Peat machines", but now it has been renamed "Mining Machines". I still work as a professor at this department.
In the digital age, the approach to knowledge has become different. Now students are armed with gadgets, but, according to the teacher, the real interest in the subject remains with those who are ready to listen.
Over the years of study and work, hundreds of students have passed through the professor's lectures and practical exercises, and his own graduate group operates throughout the former USSR.
Nikolai Berezovsky still keeps in touch with his classmates, many of whom have become major leaders.
— Of course, we remember our classmates. Alexander Sergeevich Kostyukov worked as a director, now he is engaged in blueberries. Dmitry Konstantinovich Sushchevich went through all the stages in the Central Committee of the Komsomol, was a big boss in the CIS, and now he is a veteran. We meet with them often. According to the distribution, they went to all the republics. Someone worked in Russia, Kazakhstan, and other countries. We were then distributed throughout the Union.
Each graduate has their own success story. The path of Nikolai Berezovsky is a vivid example of how you can grow from a senior laboratory assistant to a doctor of sciences and professor.
— I remained a senior laboratory assistant for 92 rubles and 50 kopecks. Then, by the will of fate, postgraduate studies began. Science and the educational process are inseparable. In 2000, he defended his doctorate and became a professor.
Family traditions in BNTU are not uncommon. Alexander Kostyukov joined the peat faculty, following his father's example.
— I entered the peat faculty following in my father's footsteps. He graduated from the Moscow Peat Institute and was a peat miner. And then my son followed my path — he also entered the peat faculty, specializing in peat machine complexes. So we are a real dynasty of peat bogs. My whole life is connected with peat.
The post-university placement determined not only the first place of work, but also the entire further professional biography of Alexander Kostyukov. He worked his way up from an engineer to the head of a large enterprise, always keeping in touch with his native department.
— After the distribution, I got to the peat enterprise "Chistik" (now JSC "Cobalt"). I worked there for six years, and then I was transferred as a director to another company, Smolevichi. And I've already worked there for most of my life: more than forty years. But the connection with the university was never interrupted: he was in constant contact with the staff of the Department of Peat machinery and Technology, consulted, implemented developments in production. Students regularly came to practice with us. For many years, I was the chairman of the state examination committee here at the university.
— Tell us about your most vivid student memories.
— There are a lot of memories. There was an interesting student life — both construction teams and work on a diploma with a part-time job. The biggest impression was left by a trip to Kazakhstan, where we worked in a student group. There are a lot of highlights from there. And later, when I was working in production, I remembered the joint tests of peat machines with the professor. We tested the prototypes that were created at the university at our company, conducted experiments, and discussed the results. It was a very lively, creative collaboration.
Alexander Sergeevich is one of those who continued his education after the BNTU. But he considers the main base to be the one that was laid here.
— First of all, the university gave me knowledge. This was the first foundation. After that, I graduated from the Institute of National Economy (now BSEU), and then from the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus. But the foundation, the engineering mindset that is being laid here, has remained for life. And today, already retired, my classmates and I are constantly texting, remembering how it all began. Dmitry often sends reminders about the anniversaries of the university, and every time warm feelings come flooding in. Thank you for this connection.
Each generation of polytechnics has its own "reference points". For Dmitry Sushchevich, such a point was a warm day in 1966, when the applicant first crossed the threshold of the main building. Six decades later, he admits: even time has not erased that feeling of celebration.
— I still have this event in front of my eyes, even though it was exactly 60 years ago. In 1966, I walked through these beautiful gates for the first time — they were wide open then. And I stepped onto the porch of this beautiful building. Time flew by quickly. Maybe the older a person is, the faster it goes. We studied here with great joy and interest and always tried to meet. It gives you a huge emotional boost.
Graduates have a tradition of meeting every five years. The pandemic disrupted this ritual, but it could not cancel the very craving for the native university. It was on this occasion that Dmitry Konstantinovich composed a poem and shared it.:
We had a great tradition. —
Meet at least once every five years.
But Covid stepped in, breaking that familiar rule.,
But we're not weaklings, that's why we're here now!
Haven't met in fifty years,
So we'll meet at five-fifty.
We are attracted to BPI by its powerful magnet,
Anyone who has not studied here will not understand us.
At fifty years old , when it became impossible,
We're meeting at five fifty tonight!
Dmitry Konstantinovich has more than just an industrial biography behind him. Starting as an engineer in the city of Smorgon, he worked his way up from the Komsomol district committee to senior positions in the Council of Ministers of the BSSR and the Staff of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
— After graduating from the institute in 1971, I was sent to Smorgon as an engineer. He worked for a year and a half, then was invited to head the department of the Komsomol district committee. Another six months — and transfer to Zelva, there for two years. Then he spent six years in the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Belarus, then he was invited to the Council of Ministers as an assistant to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, where he worked for ten years. Then he spent two years as the head of the department at the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus (then under the Council of Ministers of the BSSR). And when the Soviet Union collapsed and the CIS was formed, they were invited to the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth. I worked there for almost a quarter of a century. I'm currently on a well-deserved vacation, but I've been heading the CIS Veterans Organization for 12 years now. We have 134 veterans — those who stood at the origins of management. Decent people, with a great biography, even older than us. In a word, life was a success.
Each of the participants has his own path behind him, but each of them warmly remembers the university, which gave not just knowledge, but the foundation for subsequent victories.
