Abstract: The article features various creative activities that can be implemented at university during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors compare the concepts of game, carnival, and initiation and describe how these activities shape the image of professional self in students of journalism. Carnival is a game with a fixed set of roles. The authors define carnivalization as a form of pedagogical initiation or a controlled chaos that preserves the autonomy of the academic process. Its participants develop their professional qualities: from passive objects of education, they become its subjects. The article describes the advantages of pedagogical initiation via carnivalization in teaching junior students of journalism. It introduces some useful technologies that can be applied at a university media center.