Sergey Ivanovich Chekmarev
Moscow State University of Food Production
Lenin Komsomol Prize
Sergey Ivanovich Chekmarev was born on December 31, 1909, in Moscow in the family of a dental technician. In addition to Sergey Ivanovich, the mother raised two more younger sisters and a brother. At the age of 5, having learned to read, he never parted with a book. Later hobbies of chess and photography also failed to supplant the book.
At the age of 11, Sergey Ivanovich begins to compose poetry, and a year later, first alone, and then with his sisters and brother, he begins publishing his manuscript magazines Zvezda, Meteor, and Telescope. Magazines were of a literary, satirical, and popular-scientific nature, sometimes a father also joined them, who himself loved to "indulge in rhymes." Here Sergey Ivanovich tries himself in various literary genres - poems, poems, tales, satyrs. Then in them appears his journalism, literary criticism, essays. Having learned to appreciate the word of art early, he wants to see in it not one beauty of harmony, but reason and meaning. In school years, along with literature, he is fond of mathematics, considering them to be close areas of creativity.
In 1926, after graduating from a nine-year-old secondary school with a specialization in clerical work, Sergey Ivanovich, dreaming of gaining the profession of engineer, submits an application for admission to the mechanical faculty of the Moscow Higher Technical School named after N.E.Bauman (now the Bauman Moscow State Technical University). He passes all exams "excellent", and for his excellent knowledge of mathematics he is even awarded the nickname "Lobachevsky." However, they refuse to accept him, because the large right of income was enjoyed by large breadwinners and union members, and he was a native of the employee’s family. For 3 years he has passed exams at various universities "excellently", but all 3 years he has been denied admission. Finally, after learning that an additional group has been created at the Voronezh Agricultural Institute, Sergey Ivanovich sends documents to Voronezh. By this time, having completely lost hope of becoming an engineer, he retains the desire to still receive the profession that is necessary for the country. From the autumn of 1929 until the summer of 1930, Sergey Ivanovich lives in Voronezh and studies at the livestock department of the Agricultural Institute.
First, near Voronezh, and then in the Urals, during the summer student practice, which he perceives as a combat mission, Sergey Ivanovich campaigns for peasants to join collective farms, establishes the work of a rural Komsomol, engages with illiterate peasants, issues a wall newspaper, and takes part in military exercises at student camps.
In connection with the liquidation of the faculty in Voronezh, Sergey Ivanovich transferred to the Moscow Meat and Dairy Institute (now Moscow State University of Food Production). Here, in addition to a variety of social duties, he headlong goes into the publication of the institute's large circulation, which turned out to be the only newspaper where Sergey Ivanovich was published during his lifetime.
