Sounds of Victory
From Rokantiškės, driving along the old Šumsko road, we were greeted by hundreds of storks. The harvest had just ended, and the tall birds of the land were searching for prey.
At Kyviškės airport, the clamor of storks was replaced by metallic birds – training flights by students and their instructors from VILNIUS TECH Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute. Plenty of romance, the roar of aircraft accompanied only by frogs croaking nearby in the ponds.
Dr. Laurynas Šišovas, Vice Dean of the Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute, says that curious high school students from all over Lithuania come by bus to their educational institution, which has an excellent training base, because they are most interested in the pilot profession.
There are many who want to become pilots, but only those in excellent health, physically fit, and very good students are admitted. Usually, 20 lucky ones enroll each year in the state-funded aircraft piloting study program, which costs about 20 thousand euros per year.
Among like-minded company, we joke that this is a caste of chosen scholars, and L. Šišovas is pleased that the number of young people inspired by aviation romance and seeing themselves in a dynamic aeronautics field is growing every year.
The cost is about 20 thousand euros per year.
This interest is credited to Kyviškės, where the aerodrome will celebrate its 80th anniversary next year.
Blacksmithing ABC
In the same Šatrininkai eldership, the basics of artistic blacksmithing can be learned from Vladas Kuzinas, a member of the Lithuanian Folk Artists’ Union and a Lithuanian blacksmith.
Vladas became interested in this craft back in 1982 while living in Vilnius. Now he has excellent workshops in a homestead near Šatrininkai. His works decorate various corners of Lithuania – the largest forged handmade sundial in Lithuania is installed at the Ethnocosmology Museum in Molėtai district, and in Šakiai district, in the town of Lukšiai near Zypliai Manor, impressive 3.5-meter-high suns were created together with students. They are recorded in the record book and gifted to the manor.
The blacksmith admits that he prefers classic works: original chandeliers, fireplace decorations, various decorative elements. He also teaches youth.
Record Route
“On hikes, we discipline that technical youth a bit differently,” said Marjan Tvorogal, chairman of the “Skaistė” community, responding to our remarks that Šatrininkai and its surroundings are a great place to learn professions.
– The final chord of youth trips is a 77 km record route paddle down the shallow Vilnelė River. The difficulty of the route is proven by the number of finishers. Upstream near Lavoriškės, 20 kayaks started; downstream in Vilnius, 13 lucky ones reached the finish.”
On the way back to Vilnius, we tried to summarize. Kyviškės airport is a combination of physics, geometry, and maybe climatology; blacksmithing is art and crafts; paddling the Vilnelė is geography, biology, and geodesy. Where else would you get such a broad impulse of knowledge in one day?
At the very end of the hike, we stopped by the former Vėliučionys juvenile colony from Soviet times. Legends about its strictness still circulate. It would be good if the eerie building turned into some kind of arts residency. This would add a whole new dimension to the professional children’s route.
