Karelia, Russia - The second International Innovation Forum “Hyperborea – 2010” took place August 3-9 on the theme of “Active Youth.” it was initiated by the State Committee of Youth Affairs of the Karelian Republic and the Regional Youth Center of Karelia. The main purpose was to train an international youth team of Hyperboreans, self-developing people with high morals and ability to formulate and realize their goals.
Among the participants was a delegation of UPF Youth Ambassadors for Peace who helped organize the “Mister and Miss Hyperborea – 2010” Beauty Pageant and the “Play Football Make Peace” tournament. Dmitry Oficerov, director of UPF-Russia’s International Relations Department, was invited as one of the experts at the forum and spoke on the themes of “The family is the first school of love and peace” and “Ways to solve the problems of the modern world.”
There were interesting meetings and discussions with political leaders, renowned experts, and distinguished film stars, writers, and journalists. Each participant, supported by experts, developed his or her own educational plan complying with four main directions: self-control, control of the place where you live, control of the place where you study, and control of the place where you work.
In the process of the training, special emphasis was made on active and interactive methods, and Forum participants were involved in the educational process through realistic situations, role-playing games, trainings, simulations, and teamwork.
Note: Karelia is in the far northeast of Russia, bordering on Finland and close to the Arctic Circle. In Greek mythology the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the North Wind, lived in Thrace, and that therefore Hyperborea was an unspecified region in the northern lands that lay beyond Scythia. That land, called Hyperborea or "beyond the Boreas," was assumed to be perfect, with the sun shining 24 hours a day. If true, it suggests a possible location within the Arctic Circle.