Category Archives: Flex

FLEX Alumni from Turkmenistan take part in “Time Management” seminar


On August 27, a FLEX Alumni Coordinator from Turkmenistan organized an online seminar on Effective Time Management for FLEX alumni and American Councils staff using Google Meet platform. During the seminar, the participants were familiarized with the key elements and strategies of effective time management and discussed tips for achieving academic and career goals. The participants had an opportunity to apply gained knowledge into practice by taking part in mock-exercises, which were organized as a part of learning process. They practiced composing to-do lists, prioritizing and decomposing rules. All participants were actively engaged in the seminar discussion and had an opportunity to share best-practices with others.

FLEX Talk with Diana Volkova ‘15

On June 10th, a FLEX alumna from Turkmenistan, Diana Volkova’15 conducted a FLEX Talk via Zoom sharing her experience of securing scholarships at Top Universities and getting internships at Top companies. During the talk, Diana briefed participants on ways to make college applications more competitive and provide tips on how to conduct a college search online. The alumni were particularly impressed by Diana’s experience interning at Mercedes Company and asked to follow up on the internship application process. One of the alumni noted that Diana has an inspiring educational/professional portfolio despite her young age. At the end of the FLEX Talk, Diana encouraged participants to research and read more about the STEM fields, shared her LinkedIn profile and presentation slides.

FLEX Alumni Annual Picnic

On May 16th FLEX Alumni of Turkmenistan gathered together on a traditional annual event – May Picnic at Monument of Independence Park in Ashgabat. This event is very popular among Alumni of all ages; the youngest participants were “baby” Alumni and the oldest was FLEX Alumna ’03. Many senior Alumni brough their kids, and that fact creates a family-like atmosphere at the picnic.


The event took place in a fun, friendly, and active way. In the beginning participants played frisbee and ball games. Later everyone joined a lunch with pizza and drinks.

The special and most anticipated part of the Alumni Picnic was the “White Elephant” game. Each FLEX Alumni brought a small present nicely wrapped. Among the presents were a set of greeting cards, marshmallows and hot chocolate, decorative candles. All participants got very excited.


The last part of the picnic was devoted to games: Uno and Mafia. This is the most active and loud part of the event, as Alumni dove into the process with all their emotions, gumption, and sense of humor.

Besides the fun part, the picnic helped FLEX Alumni to get to know each other better.