On 2 September an opening ceremony of a new academic year took place at the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. As is the tradition, freshmen were welcomed by the University and School officials: Vice-Rector Sergey Goncharov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs Sergey Shilov, School Director Irina Alexeeva, as well as by the School’s trainers and graduates. In fact the students have had a taste of School training even before the ceremony: the school day started early, and they have already had a class in translation before hearing the words of welcome. The new academic year is special in the way that six Kazakh students selected by the MFA of Kazakhstan for intensive interpreter training joined the crew. We hope that this record number of students (25) will ensure a year of fruitful and hard work.