Dmitry Ponomarev, Ekaterina Kashitsyna and Daria Petrova
In anticipation of Defenders of the Fatherland Day, the SPbGASU Faculty of Automobile and Road Building opened a permanent exhibition dedicated to the heroic past of its members. Students implemented a project to restore the Hall of Fame, which existed in the Faculty building over 20 years ago but was dismantled during renovations. The initiative team not only restored the exhibition but completely reimagined it, adding new materials and creating a contemporary format for displaying historical memory.
Fifth-year student Ekaterina Kashitsyna told us how the project was created. According to Ekaterina, the idea arose from the desire to restore a lost part of the university's history:
"We used to have a Hall of Fame in our building, created over 20 years ago, but it was removed during renovations and never returned. We decided we needed to restore the walkway, but make it modern and accessible, with historical background and additional important information."
Ekaterina gathered a team of proactive students and took on the substantive part of the project—transferring texts from the previous exhibition and supplementing them with new historical materials.
Fourth-year students Daria Petrova and Dmitry Ponomarev also participated in the project's implementation. The work was carried out in close collaboration with the Dean of the Faculty of Automobile and Road Building Andrey Zazykin, as well as with the Head of the Department of Transport Maintenance Igor Chernyaev.
Participants assigned responsibilities (text preparation, design development, selection of stands and technical solutions) and, after each stage, held joint discussions, making necessary changes and additions.
One of the central elements of the renovated Hall of Fame is a display dedicated to the Faculty lecturers, who participated in the Great Patriotic War. The exhibit tells the story of university employees who served at the front, in the army's automobile and technical units, and contributed to the Victory. Among them were the former Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Highways Oleg Verkevich, Professor and Head of the Department Mstislav Masino, and also the Head of the Department of Metal Technology Nikolay Sobolev. After the front, they dedicated themselves to the development of science, engineering education, and the training of new generations of specialists in the transport industry.
The exhibition also reveals the historical context of their service, in particular the history of the creation of automobile troops. During the war, these troops played a key role in supporting combat operations: they transported personnel, delivered ammunition and food, evacuated the wounded, provided supplies to the front, and repaired equipment in front-line conditions. The army's mobility, the stability of its defense, and the conduct of offensive operations depended on the reliability of these transport columns. Motorists worked around the clock, often under fire, while repair units returned thousands of vehicles to service right in the combat zone.
"We wanted to show not only the history of technology and the automobile troops, but also the lives of the people who defended the country and later dedicated themselves to the development of education and science," notes Ekaterina Kashitsyna.
The stand emphasizes the continuity of generations: the teachers' front-line experience has become part of the professional history of the Faculty and its scientific school.
The most challenging part of the project was verifying the historical information. The team strove to accurately reflect events related to the development of transportation, military equipment, and automobile troops.
"There was very little accurate and verified information. We received help from the teachers who created the previous Hall of Fame—they knew how the events described actually unfolded, having been fortunate enough to speak with eyewitnesses—our heroes who returned to their native university after the war," Ekaterina said.
The renewed exhibition will become a permanent part of the university's space. An electronic version has also been created on the university's website.
The students hope that the Hall of Fame will help visitors learn more about military equipment, the country's history, and the history of the SPbGASU Faculty of Automobile and Road Building.
According to Ekaterina Kashitsyna, such initiatives help students not only study the history of their professional field but also develop research, organizational, and teamwork skills.
