b. Activities of RTU SP in 2021

• The largest RTU sports games “Ronīši” were organized, more than 300 students participated in the games; • The Pre-examination Seminar was organized at each faculty in order to acquaint the first-year students with the examination procedure at RTU and academic integrity; • For the first time, “Mental Health Week” was organized, where psychotherapist

Artūrs Miksons, RTU psychologist

Viktorija Gaina and former Minister of Health Ilze Viņkele shared their experience and provided advice; • In cooperation with the Student

Parliament of Riga Stradins

University, for the first time a remote 24 h hackathon was organized, its participants developed prototype offers on different themes, starting with electric car charging station solutions

Events organized by student self-governments:

• AF SP events “ERASMUS+

Opportunities” and “Gingerbread

Houses”; • FCE SP arranged paper bridge designing competitions “Paper

Bridges” and “Get into Engineer’s

Shoes”; • CSITF SP events “Erudite Engineer” and panel discussions “Has Internet

Become Safer?” and “Ethic Hacking”; • FEEM SP events “EKU Gig Inspiration

Week” and “ERASMUS+ Evening Stories”;

and solar panel tracking systems, up to improvements of disease diagnostics methods and accessibility of treatment services. The winning team received EUR 1,000 for further development of their idea; • During this year, RTU SP cooperated both with student self-governments from other universities and with various big companies; • A panel discussion “Conversation with a

Black Screen” was held with participation of RTU psychologist, an RTU student and

RTU lecturer. During this event, it was discussed how people are affected by remote studies and how to ‘talk’ with a computer screen; • For the first time, semester meetings of group monitors with directors of study programs were introduced to discuss the required improvements in the programs.

• FMETA SP events “Hydraulic Hands” and “SLAZDS”; • FMSAC SP events “Days of Creative

Chemists” and “Gaming Night”; • FET SP events “Electronic Week” and

“The Lost”; • FEEE SP organized panel discussions

“How to Struggle with Climate Change

Deniers?” and “Green Mobility in Riga”.

In the traditional “Paper Bridges” construction competition, an RTU team “Hot Peppers” from the Faculty of Civil Engineering (FCE) won. The bridge they built held the load of 145.6 kg. The strength of the bridge models was assessed by placing them into a special loading device.

The second place was won by an RTU team “Golden Parts”, their bridge held the load of 108.75 kg, and the team “Oh, God, what a Good Bridge!” came third – their bridge held the load of 105.55 kg.

“Paper Bridges” took place for the eighth consecutive time. It is organized by the FCE student self-government, and every year the event attracts a lot of participants who are interested to test their engineering skills and imagination. The participants are allowed to use only 50 A4 format paper sheets and glue in the construction. The mass of the bridge may not exceed 300 grams, and it should be minimum 10 cm wide throughout its entire span.