Summer holidays offer a chance to recharge, step away from everyday routines, spend more time with family, and gain energy from new experiences. That is why organizing wellness activities and enriching leisure opportunities for employees of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and their family members is one of the key areas of work of the Trade Union Committee.
This summer, the Trade Union Committee offered several types of holidays and recreation: health retreats for employees and children, children’s holidays at camps in Ukraine, a summer school at the university’s Ukrainian-Japanese Center, holidays for children at a camp in Poland, and active weekend hiking trips in the Carpathian Mountains.
One of the Trade Union Committee’s traditional areas of work is its summer health and recreation programme for employees and their children. This year, employees showed a preference for health resorts in western Ukraine.
A highlight of this summer’s programme was the launch of a new type of recreation for the Trade Union Committee: weekend hiking trips in the Carpathians. For the first time, these trips were organized in cooperation with the university’s Globus Tourist Club. Employees and their family members took part. Two options were offered: two-day and three-day hikes. During these trips, participants could escape the hustle and bustle of city life, enjoy mountain scenery, breathe fresh air, and spend time outdoors with colleagues and friends. This kind of active leisure is possible even without taking an extended holiday. Just a few days are enough to break from the usual routine, explore the mountains, enjoy new experiences, and recharge. The weekend programme has become a new way to promote active recreation and a healthy lifestyle among university employees.
The Trade Union Committee always pays special attention to organizing summer holidays for university employees’ children. At the beginning of June, in cooperation with the university’s Ukrainian-Japanese Center, it organized a Japanese Summer School for children aged 7–10. Over two weeks, the children enjoyed a holiday while exploring Japanese culture and traditions through creative and hands-on activities. The programme included workshops in ikebana, calligraphy, origami, furoshiki, and suminagashi, as well as a tea ceremony featuring Japanese greetings and dances.
Throughout the summer, children had the opportunity to spend their holidays at three children’s health camps in Ukraine, located in the picturesque regions of the Carpathians and Zakarpattia: Karpatski Zori, Vodohrai, and Verkhovyna. In total, 49 children attended camps in Ukraine this summer.
In the photo: A hike in the CarpathiansA traditional and much-anticipated holiday destination for university employees’ children is the recreation centre of Warsaw University of Technology in the town of Grybów, Poland. The programme combined sports and entertainment, social activities, and excursions to various attractions, including FlyPark, a rope adventure park, a water park in Tarnów, a trip to Krynica-Zdrój with a visit to its observation tower, and an excursion to Solina, a nature park near the reservoir on the San River, among other destinations. For two weeks, the children stayed at the recreation centre without air raid alerts, shelling, or anxiety. They had the opportunity to discover their talents in sports and creative activities and to connect with one another.
This year, the Trade Union Committee’s summer health and recreation programme brought together both established and new holiday options. For some, summer was a time to improve their health; for others, it meant memorable school holidays for their children, active adventures, or a chance to relax together as a family.
The Trade Union Committee continues to expand the opportunities available to employees of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute for health retreats and recreation, exploring new formats and partnerships. After all, caring for trade union members means more than providing social support: it also means creating opportunities to recharge, enjoy meaningful leisure activities, and spend quality time relaxing with loved ones.
In the photo: Japanese Summer School