Taras Shevchenko, our national prophet, philosopher, poet and artist believed in a better future for his native Ukraine; he could forecast the present. His verses were an integral part of our lives. Shevchenko’s works are taught in the schools and they remain very important for the students.

USPU students took part in "Shevchenko is in the heart" television creative contest organized by "Television Uman" dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of T.G. Shevchenko. 45 participants, representatives of Pavlo Tychyna USPU represented the works of the great poet in their own performances. The contestants received gratitude and were awarded with Diplomas for personal understanding of Taras Shevchenko. An honorable Certificate equal to the main awards of the audience was presented to Oualid Krout, the foreign student from Algeria (Foreign Languages Department). "Television Uman" thanked the Rector, Professor Natalia Pobirchenko for the great work of the University aimed at popularization of the works of our famous countryman, educating the young patriots of Ukraine and for active participation in the creative television contest.

The creative contest devoted to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko organized by the Institute of Philology and Social USPU, was also finished. The open form of contest showed that those were not only the students of Ukrainian Philology Department who showed interest in the works of the great Ukrainian poet. The students of 8 Departments submitted 15 poems, 17 essays and a thumbnail. The organizing committee consisting of Natalia Syvachuk, the Head of the Chair of Ukrainian Literature and Ukraine Studies at the Ukrainian Philology Department, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor and Candidates of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professors Leonid Kozynskiy, Olena Nakonechna, Tetiana Lopushan, Maryna Pavlenko, Liubov Parheta, teacher Natalia Zarudnyak evaluated the artistic qualities of the works and selected the winners. Those were the students who presented an image of Taras Shevchenko in the submitted texts, poetic and prose works, taking the literary requirements into consideration. It was decided to skip awarding the first place. The second and third places in various categories were shared as follows: in the "Poetry" category the second place for the “The soul of the poet arises on earth” poem was awarded to Inna Khomenko (student from group 44, Ukrainian Philology Department), the third place for "The poetry echoed in the centuries" poem was given to Anastasia Kravets (student from group 44, Ukrainian Philology Department). In the "Prose" category the awards were distributed as follows: the second place was won by Tetiana Masnyuk (student from group 44, Ukrainian Philology Department) for the “Message of Taras” work, the third place was given to Tetiana Bovkun (student from group 12, Physical Training Department) for "Shevchenko in my heart" prose work, Natalia Korzhenetska (student from group 52, Ukrainian Philology Department) for the "To the dead and the living and unborn ... " prose work, Oleksandr Pochtar (student from group 13, Sociology and Psychology Department) for “The wise words of the Prophet” research, Tetiana Chorna (student from group 43, Technology and Pedagogics Department) for "Nature in the works of Taras Shevchenko" literary research.

The winners of the contest were awarded Diplomas and valuable gifts during the "Taras Shevchenko in our culture: the historical figure, the milestones of creativity, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the poet" International Scientific Conference. The organizers of the contest sincerely wished the students inspiration, creative success, strength and enthusiasm, spiritual values, love of our country and creative legacy.

National Theatre of Drama and Comedy of Primary Education Department presented a play on the sage of USPU - "Nazar Stodolya" premiere dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of T.G. Shevchenko. ("Nazar Stodolya" is the play written by Taras Shevchenko in 1843, his greatest dramatic work. The plot is based on the traditional love triangle, although the image of Colonel Molochay, the main rival of Nazar, was ousted from the text of the work, and the central negative character was Khoma Kychatyy. The traditional figure of the mother who usually wanted to arrange the marriage of her daughter with a wealthy villain was replaced by the image of bad father who went back on his intentions only under the threat of death).

Again the audience was impressed by the outstanding acting skills, superior bright student performance. This was enabled due to hard work of the talented Director Natalia Alekseeva who loves her job immensely. The choreography part was excellent thanks to Sergiy Kutcenko, the sound engineer was Oleg Gonchar (Yaroslav Bakal). Cast: Nazar Stodolya - Oleksandr Patara, the student of Nature and Geography Department, Galya - Tetiana Florina, the student of Nature and Geography Department, Khoma Yrychatyy - Maksym Kylymystiy, the teacher of Physical Training Department, Stekha - Galyna Drozdenko, the teacher of Nature and Geography Department, Gnat – Oleksandr Shcherbak, the student of Primary Education Department, Kateryna - Tetiana Shulga, the student of Economics Department, the Swats – Ivan Saltusenko, the student of Physics and Mathematics Department and Oleg Sytnyk, the student of Physics and Mathematics Department, Uliana - Larysa Saulyak, the student of Primary Education Department, Gannusya – Olena Markovska, the student of Primary Education Department, Kobza player - Yuriy Slobodyanyuk, the student of Nature and Geography Department, the guide - Vladislav Moskalchuk, the student of Arts and Pedagogics Department, Sofia - Anna Kudla, the student of Primary Education Department, Kondrat - Ivan Shevchenko, the student of Physics and Mathematics Department, Vasyl - Ruslan Labunets, the student of Primary Education Department.

The Student National Theater of Drama and Comedy operates at the Institute of Child Development at USPU which is said to be an inexhaustible source of creativity because this University Department has most creative teams. Student National Theatre of Drama and Comedy of the Primary Education Department has extraordinary skills, knowledge, observes the folk customs and traditions that talented students demonstrate on the stage. Such creativity is ??possible due to the support of Borys Yakymchuk, the Dean of the Primary Education Department, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor.

All mass events dedicated to the anniversary of Taras Shevchenko in USPU prove once again that the wisdom and prophetic power of his words endow us with the strength and inspiration!