Meet Ephraim!

The Eurasian Economic Youth Forum has a mascot. This is Ephraim the raccoon. The idea for a mascot was suggested by the students themselves.

As Polina Zhuravleva, leading specialist of the USUE Department of Social Work, said, the students’ proposal was immediately submitted for discussion to the Organizing Committee of the Eurasian Economic Youth Forum. Everyone liked the idea.

“All that was left was to choose an animal. Many companies use cats, dogs, and bears. We needed something unique, like the Eurasian Economic Youth Forum itself. Students proposed a raccoon as a mascot. This is not just a cute animal. It symbolizes wisdom, resourcefulness, curiosity - everything that distinguishes the Eurasian Economic Youth Forum from other international events,” says Polina Zhuravleva.

They decided to entrust the development of the mascot image to USUE students. The design was carried out by members of the First Student IT Association “UNIT”. A member of the association, Anastasia Kurakina, created stickers with a raccoon. According to the girl, while the drawing took time, the mascot’s name appeared in a few seconds.

“When I created a sketch of a raccoon and showed it to my friends, they immediately asked what his name was. I looked at the name of the event and jokingly said “Efrem”, it is consonant with the EEYF. My like-minded people from UNIT liked it so much that we decided to add it to the sketch. In the end, it was approved,” says Anastasia Kurakina.

There are plans to have a mascot on social networks and create photo zones with Ephraim. It is possible that plush raccoons will be given to guests of the EEYF, and then the symbol of the Eurasian Economic Youth Forum will appear on all continents. At the end of April this year, the XIV EEYF brought together more than 17 thousand participants from 114 countries.

The Eurasian Economic Youth Forum has a mascot