page_title: Eighth Creative Union of MEPhI
section_title: Traditions
hierarchical_section_title: Eighth Creative Union of MEPhI / Traditions
caption_attribution_description: Русский: 1980 год - Самый холодный слёт ВТО в Скнятино
context_page_description: The Eighth Creative Union of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute is a creative and interdisciplinary team unifying students, graduates, postgraduate students and the university lecturers and professors. The ECU implies a variety of activities including a student theatre of pop sketches, arrangement of concerts and performances, scriptwriting, arrangement of night entertainment events and conventions, issuing of wall newspapers along with prose, poetry and playwriting almanacs, participating in Singer-Songwriter Club and Club of the Funny and Inventive People and Sharp-witted activities and taking part in different shows and competitions.
context_section_description: First-year Student's Day is celebrated annually on 1 September. The ECU have conducted a theatrical performance for the first-year students of all faculties since 1 September 1974. Although the content of the performance changed throughout its history starting from parting words of ‘Scholar Elders’ to the first-year students, Higher Education game and amusement arcades to a concert of all on-stage performance groups of National Research Nuclear University MEPhI the ECU have constantly taken part in that important event.
  The first-year Student Outdoor Convention is held annually on the 2–3 September weekend. The tradition was established by the ECU members in 1974 when the first convention of that type was held in Tuchkovo. The agenda included Faculty F first-year students outdoor trip, student's ‘horror path’, a memorial meeting at Moscow defenders’ obelisk and a night concert. There usually were some sport completions and give-away prize ceremeny on the second day. The tradition of September conventions has existed since then and only the convention venues in Moscow Oblast were changed.
  May Student's Convention in Sknyatino (held annually on 1 May).
  It is strictly the ECU event. The tradition was established on 1 May 1975. That day a group of the ECU students covered 165 kilometers to reach Tver Oblast (to the village of Sknyatino) to relax in the lap of nature. There were so many people willing to go to Sknyatino in 1976 that the persons charge had to divide them into teams. Creative and sport competitions were held then. The tradition is still alive and more than 100 people go to the village every year.
  April Fools’ Days (held annually in April).
  The first April Fools' Day of Moscow Technical Universities was held on 1 April 1973. A large concert was arranged in Zamoskvorech’ye Community Centre and apart from the MEPhI ECU, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow Power Engineering Institute, National Research University of Electronic Technology and Kurchatov Institute student teams had taken part in it. Afterwards the event title changed to Day of Laughter, Fool's Day and Woodpecker's Day. Presently, the ECU arrange a four-day event with a diverse programme. A large humorous concert is held on the final day. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow State University, Moscow Aviation Institute and the MEPhI ECU teams take part in it.
  Propaganda teams.
  They are small creative ECU teams which used to go on tour to remote areas of the country in the Soviet times. The first propaganda team went to Naberezhnye Chelny in 1974 when Kamaz was being erected. The team members showed sketches, declared poems and sang hiking songs for the construction site workers. Afterwards, there had been a series of trips to different border military districts with concerts conducted for border patrol soldiers with the following agitation for entering the institute. The final trip of that sort was made in July 1989. We hope to breath a new life to that tradition.
  Winter farewell party.
  Winter farewell party was conducted by the ECU in cooperation with Esta MEPhI ballroom dance studio in March 1977 – 1979 not far from Zvenigorod. It was a theatrical performance which included dances, down heel sledging, blins (pancakes) eating and seizure of snow fortress. Afterwards Esta MEPhI were completely in charge of the event arrangement.
  The ECU school.
  The ECU keep on trying to recruit its new members and to invite new first-year students with a creative potential.  Each year the freshmen have classes conducted by experienced ECU team members. They try to master the basics of text and playwriting, stage movement, elocution, vocal and dancing. Only a year later on coming through initiating of Ordination they become full-fledged members of the Eighth Creative Union.
  MEPhI Club of the Funny and Inventive People.
  It is an integral part of the ECU which was finally formed at the end of the 1990s. V. Shambarov remembers that "In 1969 when the ECU was established there were several groups of the guys. One group which included Kolya Artem’e
caption: 1980. The coldest convention of ECU in the village of Sknyatino
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1355", "Image ImageLength": "1000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "150", "Image YResolution": "150", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2016:04:07 20:28:19", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8341", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1299", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "945"}