An uncommon feeling: I am still a student, but soon I will be deprived of this remarkable status. On the one hand, I am a bit sad, but on the other – I am very happy: I achieved the goal I pursued for so long. And, looking back over my shoulder, I am a little surprised. I was born in Brest, and I decided to be a doctor very early. The most interesting thing is that none of my relatives expected me to pursue a medical career, and none of them never dealt with medical practice. And as soon as I realized I was born to be a doctor, I decided gradually to make my way to this goal. At first I entered the medical class in the school, and later I studied profession-oriented subjects – chemistry and biology in the lyceum. As a result, I had to travel 700 km away from home to Vitebsk. And now I'm a student, and today I'm already a graduate of Vitebsk State Medical University.

At first everything was regarded very enthusiastically, sometimes even naively. I thought I would wear my white dressing gown and save lives. But I was quickly explained that everything was more complicated ...Study, study and once again study. So I had to face endless volumes of manuals, sleepless nights, a fear of first tests and exams. The first months were very difficult. Besides, I was far away from my home, everything was new and unfamiliar. But the time of studies did not allow me to feel bored. So little by little I blended into the rhythm of a student life.

As soon as my problems with training vanished, I decided to go in for sports. I am not fond of team sports, but individual athletic disciplines were more attractive for me like the arm-wrestling, but I still doubted. Then I organized a small competition among groupmates. I turned out to be the strongest, and firmly decided to do arm-wrestling. There, I met Leonid Bronislavovich Petrovsky, a remarkable coach. Speaking truly, he strongly doubted my abilities to achieve any success. My hands seemed fragile, my height is low, the weight category is also inappropriate. But I still wanted to prove the contrary. At first, I took the first place in the university, after the first year of training I took a silver medal at city competitions, and after a while I won the golden medal. I decided to go further in winning competitions at higher levels. In competitions at republican level in 2015 I took a silver medal and the title of candidate master of sports. In 2016, in republican competitions I won the golden medal and was awarded the title of master of sports of the Republic of Belarus. I want to thank a lot my coaches - Leonid Bronislavovich Petrovsky and Alexander Ivanovich Denisyuk for their professionalism, support and faith in my dream of becoming the champion of the country!

I am very glad to my decision in choosing this university. It's even hard to imagine where else I could realize my abilities and interests. Many thanks to all the university staff, our wonderful rector Anatoly Tadeushevich Shchastny, administration and academic staff. Special thanks to the vice-rector for ideological and pedagogical affairs Syrodoeva Olga Arkadievna.

I believe and hope that our university will continue to flourish, and I will continue my victories, but not as a student-athlete, but as a doctor!

Elena Zalevskaya, graduate of General medicine Faculty