The school in Gorodok district was named after Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Averchenko
Nikolai Averchenko was born in the village of Moiseenki, Palmininsky Selsoviet. He joined the front in mid-1942. As part of the 9th Red Banner Artillery Corps, he participated in battles on the Southwestern, Transcaucasian, North Caucasian, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian, and 1st Belarusian Fronts. He commanded a gun in the 301st Rifle Division, awarded the Order of Suvorov. He was wounded twice and performed a heroic feat on the approaches to Berlin on the eve of Victory. Thus, on April 14, 1945, on the left bank of the Oder River, Senior Sergeant destroyed four machine guns, a pillbox, and a large number of German personnel. On April 24, he ensured the crossing of the Spree River by a rifle platoon with direct fire. A few days later, he actively fought in the streets of the German capital. There he found himself cut off from the main forces – enemy submachine gunners, entrenched in one of the buildings, let the first wave of advancing infantry pass and tried to move into the rear of our troops. Nikolai Averchenko engaged in an unequal battle – he rolled his gun across the intersection and turned it to cut off the retreat path of the Nazis, then, together with his comrades, rushed to the building where the enemy was holed up. In hand-to-hand combat, they managed to destroy 10 and capture 20 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht. During the skirmish, the commander was severely wounded. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 15, 1946, for exemplary fulfillment of combat missions of the command on the front of the struggle against the German-fascist invaders and the courage and heroism shown therein, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal.
As the director of the secondary school, Tatyana Filimonova, explained, the desire alone, including from the local authorities, was not enough for the school to be named after the renowned countryman. According to the law, it was required to find his relatives to obtain their consent. This was a difficult task, considering that Nikolai Ivanovich died in 1960 in Estonia, where he lived after being demobilized from the army. Fortunately, the educational institution has a research society "Poisk" (Search), which is engaged in search and local history work. Through meticulous data collection and analysis, its representatives managed to find the Hero's grandson, Vitaly Suslov.
— It is symbolic that the Hero's name was given to the school in the Year of Historical Memory. Such a practice of immortalizing the memory of renowned countrymen existed in Soviet times, and we revived it in the Vitebsk region in preparation for the 75th anniversary of Victory. During this time, almost 40 educational institutions have been named, — said Vladimir Terentyev.
An excursion was arranged for the honored guests around the school, including a visit to the museum. One of the main exhibits there is dedicated to Nikolai Averchenko.
By the way, about 170 children study at Palminskaya Secondary School, and 109 of them are members of the pioneer squad named after the hero pioneer Pyotr Klypa.