My name is Olesya Kovalchuk , and  I am the founder and co-owner of the Kharkiv private lyceum "Persha Ukrainska Shkola" (PUSH School).  The lyceum was founded in 2020, but my journey to opening a school began much earlier. For many years I worked in one of the largest publishing houses in Ukraine - Ranok, which publishes textbooks and educational literature, and had a unique opportunity to communicate with the authors of textbooks and was inspired by their love for school and their desire to make learning more interesting and qualitative. That was the inspiration that has turned into a dream to open my own school and create an environment for children where they can not only gain good academic knowledge, but also find themselves, develop their talents, learn to share and argue their point of view. A school with a positive student-centered learning atmosphere, where a teacher is a friend, a mentor, where friendship and mutual respect are must haves. This is exactly the school our team managed to create in 2020. In two years, our lyceum has accepted almost 300 students into its friendly school family.

But great trouble happened and war came to our country and our happy life in PUSH School came to an end. Our students, team teachers, and myself included, were forced to flee the war and seek protection in Poland and other European Union countries.

Fleeing the war, I found protection in Warsaw, where locals greet us, Ukrainians, as relatives, with their support and almost family warmth. Currently, more than 1,000 refugee children from Ukraine in Warsaw are looking for an opportunity to study. Unfortunately, the existing Ukrainian school in Warsaw is not able to provide places for all those children who need it now. Therefore, my goal is to help our children - to organize quality education for Ukrainian children in Warsaw, according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and to create a space where Ukrainian children do not lose their culture, for which our people die today. So now, we are actively working to open this Ukrainian educational space, where children of Ukraine will not only be able to gain knowledge, but also have the opportunity to communicate and learn in their native language, study Ukrainian history and culture, arts and sports. I invite everyone to help us achieve our goal, let's make ukrainian childrens` childhood happier together!