Reflections from YouLEAD 2022 Participants

This guest post was written by 2022 YouLEAD program participants Ksyusha, Nastya, and Evelina.

In August, Global Synergy Group brought eighteen teens from three different regions of Ukraine to Minnesota to take part in the 2022 YouLEAD program.

YouLEAD is an international program of development and involvement of youth leadership. The goal is to inspire the youth of both countries (the USA and Ukraine) to be intercultural ambassadors of positive change in their home countries. The program focuses on four main areas of leadership development: Self, team, goal, and action - qualities that show in all participants of YouLEAD. 

YouLEAD was first launched in 2012, with eighteen participants from Boryspil, Ukraine. The focus of the program then was to promote understanding of the problems faced by young people in different places, and how their participation in development, global thinking, and self-government can be a force for good in their communities.

This year was a little different. The intention was to create a platform to implement a proactive position for youth groups - to demonstrate their capabilities and the possibilities when working within educational institutions, government, enterprises, and non-profit organizations. Thus, representatives of different ages built a platform on which they studied each other through exchange of ideas, strategic dialogs and development of active/strategic solutions to problems.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this was a challenging year to run the program. It was particularly challenging for the eighteen young Ukrainians who traveled to Minnesota (via Poland) leaving behind their friends and families for over a month.

“I didn’t expect it to hit me as hard as it did when we got to Poland. Emotionally, I was not fully prepared for leaving, especially knowing what was happening in Kharkiv. Part of me was still there, but YouLEAD was an amazing opportunity ” - Ksyusha

“Five weeks in another country is a long time. We couldn’t forget about Ukraine, but we also knew that everything we were doing was for Ukraine.” - Nastya

With all eighteen YouLEAD participants now back in Ukraine, we wanted to bring you their reflections from their time in the USA.

We would also like to recognize that all of this would have been impossible without the many people who donated their resources, time, and attention. We are so grateful to everyone who donated to the program, to community partners, host families and all those who have in one way or another helped this program to come to fruition.

But the program did not end at the moment when the participants went to Ukraine! We are already working on the YouLEAD 2023 program. We would like to ask that you follow us on Facebook for more updates: https://www.facebook.com/GSGMinnesota

Thank you,
Ksyusha, Nastya, Evelina.

Aleynikova Sofia (14 years old)

“During the program, I received a lot of useful and important information, which I continue to digest in my head. We had many workshops and meetings with business leaders. I gained a lot of new knowledge and skills. During that time, I also grew up as a person. I learned more about myself, about my behavior, how I work as a team, how I behave in stressful situations, and a lot more. And this program has given me a lot of inspiration and motivation. I have ideas for my own projects that I plan to implement in the near future.”

Anastasiia Veprytskaya (15 years old)

”This program, these past five weeks, has given me a lot of inspiration and motivation. I have also received a lot of necessary information, thanks to which I can implement the ideas of projects and successfully develop them in the future.”

Hanna Arnaut (16 years old)

”During our stay in the USA we visited many locations where we had workshops on team building and business creation, and workshops where we were taught how to build trust. We worked in the team and trained gradually to develop the project plan, as well as communicated with specialists in certain areas.

It is very good that the knowledge and skills we received were not abstract. We were helped to understand a certain algorithm of actions to get the result, and we were also given the opportunity to put it into practice. We have modeled situations, played in certain games, and worked out interesting questions. Now, having returned to Ukraine, we will be able to successfully implement our projects and develop our native country in the future.”

Zuev Oleksiy (14 years old)

”I think that as for everyone who was with us on this trip, all the memories that we got were excellent and unforgettable. I realized for myself that America has become my home. I feel alive there. There I enjoyed every day when I woke up. Even if it was raining and I had plans, I was not upset, but surprised how beautiful it was even during the rain. Thanks to all those who helped us in organizational matters, provided materials, and even someone who helped morally. For this, many thanks to all of you!”

Kateryna Muzyka  (15 years old)

”The trip to America, and the 5 weeks program, opened me to the world in a new way. I saw how people live on another continent, and I can say that I felt their lives on my own. Of course, I learned a lot of new things, and the most important thing is necessary information, which, I admit honestly, I am still digesting in my head. The most valuable thing for me was the attitude of people. They gave us their time, and with pleasure they took to their organizations, offices, farms, studios, cities, and homes. With a smile on their faces, they asked how things are going, and despite their positions, talked with us on equal terms.”

Olesya Kitchuk (18 years old)

”These were unforgettable weeks with an atmosphere of creativity, generation of new ideas, acquisition of new experience, interesting meetings, important knowledge and skills, fascinating workshops of personal growth, achievement of goals, work on new projects, and full immersion in another culture.This trip gave me strength, inspiration and gave me a new impulse to realize my dreams. Recently my two new creative works - author's songs and clips on these songs have come out. With new forces, ideas, and support, it happened very quickly. It still seems to me that I live at the rate we had in the USA. And I have many more ideas, as well as friends and close people who support me from another continent.”

Ksyusha Lohvinenko (16 years old)

”After this program I developed not only as a leader, but as a person generally. In some areas, I changed my views and approaches to situations, and in some ways understood that I was on the right side.

Looking at my experience now, I realize that I have developed as a person in social terms: I have become more confident to express my thoughts in two languages, to find an approach for each person separately, and to be an active participant of a team. We have gained an outstanding experience of communication with different types of people. I consider YouLEAD to be a very valuable experience, because of the many life lessons and heartwarming conversations that I would not have experienced at any school lesson.”

Yulian Lazutin (16 years old)

”I honestly did not expect that this would be such an interesting and useful program for the development of Ukrainian youth. This program has changed my thinking on the questions: “what is a team?” and “what is humanity?”. It has also changed my attitude about many financial rules. After this trip, I have expanded my horizons. I also discovered my love for English and now with pleasure learn it. I learned what mental burnout is. I understood that you can not constantly work - you  should give yourself a rest and think twice before actually doing something.”

Nastya Lebedinskaya (17 years old)

”During the program, I learned a lot of new and interesting information, and also confirmed some things that I already knew. In addition to information about business, government, education, activism and American society, I also learned a lot about myself.

I plan to apply my knowledge and connections to many of my projects, including those with YouLead2022 participants, because a good team is an important element of the success of any project.”

Danil Shabelnik  (16 years old)

”I am delighted with everything that happened to us during the program in America. Every day was more and more interesting, so it is difficult to distinguish one moment as the best one. But if I had to make that choice, I would choose the visit to the Capitol and the trip to the farm. It was not just a farm, but starting from the way there... Ride in a limousine, riding on ATV, then the main part on the farm.”

Evelina Yandola (15 years old) 

“During my time in America, I have come to many conclusions for myself: about the world, about myself. We got a lot of unique information that I will be digesting in my head for a long time. The most important thing for me was to get to know myself better: what I understand, how I analyze, how I act in different situations, and what I feel.

And I think I did it. 

As I discovered my strengths and weaknesses during numerous excursions, workshops and conversations, I realized what I could already do and what I still need to work out.”

From all of our team, we want to thank everyone who had a hand in making the YouLEAD 2022 program such a success.