Here we have collected some stories of Klitschko Foundation project participants about how the fund projects appeared in their lives during this difficult year and how they influenced the participants!

Alina, the participant of the School of Success project

It was the dream of more than 2,000 teenagers in 2020 to join the large community of Klitschko Foundation, but not everyone got a chance to become one. Alina was lucky, in the spring she found a happy letter in the mail about participating in the School of Success. And then everything was so fast, interesting and intense that sometimes it was unbelievable that everything was real. During 10 days of the educational part of the project, Alina and other Shushniks learned so much about their development, received a lot of useful selections and tips, and were also inspired to implement her project. In the fall, she and another participant of the project Veronica brought together 50 teenagers,, gathered cool speakers, and organized a team of volunteers. As a result all plans were implemented 100%! Evidence of this is the positive feedback from all participants of the local School of Success. Volodymyr-Volynskiy. Alina says that she has changed dramatically this year, and she likes those changes. The girl gained self-confidence, motivation, useful skills, a sea of ​​crazy emotions, and friends from all over Ukraine. This year is coming to an end, so she has already decided on plans for 2021. The main tasks are to finish school and volunteer a lot, not to allow procrastination to defeat, increase your circle of acquaintances and friends, read a lot, and... and much more! We believe that Alina will be able to realize all these plans, and Shushniki, like a big family, will always support each other and motivate not to give up, but to fight for their dreams!

Victor, the participant of the Package of Success project

At the beginning of the year, the teacher decided to submit a questionnaire for the project because he needed professional development. And it happened: Victor became a participant! The project began in early summer, when schools went on vacation, but physical education teachers had just begun their education. Hours of communication with the speakers flew by quickly and effectively. Participants learned how to lead a healthy and active lifestyle, counteract bullying, work with self-esteem and motivation, communicate on social networks, conquer Everest in a team-building game, get acquainted with innovative teaching methods,  learnt a lot about Sustainable Development Goals, overcome challenges, accept challenges from sports and shared experiences. After the theoretical part, all participants, including Victor, conducted their local projects. So they were able to immediately apply the acquired knowledge in practice and see the effect of their students, motivated to play sports. In the fall, Victor received a parcel from the Klitschko Foundation with sports equipment, which is always so lacking in the classroom. Now sports have become much more diverse and interesting, and students are looking forward to each lesson of physical education. Isn't it a great achievement for Victor this year?

Severin, the participant of Zero Waste School project

It was Severin who initiated the submission of a questionnaire for this project from the school where he studies. At school, his idea was supported, and now the team of the Classical Gymnasium at Ivan Franko Lviv National University in the spring of this year became a member of Zero Waste School project in the online format. The guy was skeptical about the remote format at first, but as a result, he was very happy, because he learned a lot of useful things from the project. The lecture on the Sustainable Development Goals was especially memorable. The guy had never heard of it before, and now they have become a guide for Severin  — they tell me what to do, what to aim for, and what to implement to improve life in the community. The participant also really enjoyed the lecture on fundraising. During the two months of training, the participating teams also planned their local eco-initiatives and implemented them in the fall. In other words, all this sounds quite easy, but in fact, the participants convinced the residents of their communities of the need to develop a culture of sorting and minimizing waste, demonstrated this by example, and taught them to care for the environment. After participating in the Zero Waste School project, he set out to implement his idea — to implement a global eco-project that would help teach people not to litter, but to handle waste properly. We believe that Severin will succeed!

Veronica, the participant of the Ecoacademy online-course

This year, the Ecoacademy has become a course for more than 13,000 people, where you can find answers to all environmental questions, learn to properly sort and discover a lot of useful information about our environment. Veronica became one of the participants of the course. Through the Ecoacademy, the girl learned about the intricacies of waste sorting, which she had never guessed before. Knowledge, of course, applies in practice! Because her school has sorting tanks, she sorts and spreads the culture of waste sorting among others. For example, only last week Veronica explained to the 5th graders the most basic sorting rules. As soon as the Ecoacademy appeared, I immediately advised my close friends, because some are preparing to move abroad, and their knowledge about waste sorting is not that relevant, but extremely necessary. Veronica believes that next year the community of those who care about the environment will increase, and the Ecoacademy will only help! We in the fund only support the girl's aspirations and also want more environmental activists.

Olga, the participant of the ProCharity 3.0 project

This year, Olga decided to apply for the ProCharity 3.0 project. The course was very useful for her. When they passed the project management module, everything she knew was laid out on the shelves, because together with practice, everything is learned much more effectively than just studying the theory. Here, by practice, Olga means both practical classes within the course and application in their work, because at that time Olga had just moved to the position of the project manager. The knowledge from the lecture ‘Effective Negotiations’ also proved to be very useful. Olga started using interesting life hacks from the lecturer the same week in negotiations and uses them every day not only at work. Surprisingly, knowledge of communication comes in handy, because Olga's subordinates have an SMM-manager, and she shares her knowledge with him. Next year, Olga is convinced that knowledge of fundraising will also be needed because in January she plans to write and apply for a grant. Together with the team, we believe that Olga will be able to realize her plans and in 2021 continue to improve professionally and thus help grow the organization in which she works!

Lesya, the participant of Realms of the Future 6.0 project

2020 introduced the girl to the Klitschko Foundation and projects. Thanks to the local  School of Success. Trinity project the girl learned about the Realms of the Future project. She decided not to procrastinate and apply! And then Lesya got into the top 20 participants of the project, and here everything turned around: philosophical texts, communication with like-minded people, a 3-day seminar, the opportunity to implement your project for peers and introduce them to the interesting world of philosophy! And, although everything always ends sooner or later, knowledge, experience, and impressions remain forever. Now the girl understands that the project allowed her to look at the world from a different angle, and Lesya realized that philosophy is not something distant and unattainable, but something that we can use in everyday life, and from this only make every day more interesting.

Anastasia, the participant Skills Elevator project

Even before participating in the project, Nastya already knew a lot about communications, but she still decided to apply for the Skills Elevator project. It was interesting to learn something new. But getting on the project was not so easy. First, Nastya filled out a questionnaire, shot a video, then took part in a 5-day post-writing challenge, and only then became one of the 14 participants. In the project, the participant learned about copywriting, storytelling, media work, design, fact-checking, and creativity at a very intensive pace. And all this was accompanied by interesting tasks and informal communication. And the real shock was that after the training part Anastasia was selected to the team of volunteers of the Klitschko Foundation! During the month, the girl worked with other volunteers on various tasks and thus helped the communication department of the foundation to develop. Nastya also published her article about her volunteer experience during this period! Aren't these achievements remarkable as for 2020?

Kirill, the participant of the Teenovation project

The boy learned about the project from his class teacher, but he hesitated for a long time to apply or not — none of his peers wanted to do it. Still, Kirill applied and never regretted this decision, because where else, if not at Teenovation, could the guy get such knowledge of business modeling, design thinking, and creating startups? And every day there is an opportunity to communicate with a business specialist from the United States? Is it possible elsewhere than Teenovation for teenagers to take part in pitching business projects and get personal feedback from experts? It's hard to believe, but all this happened in Kirill's life at the moment when he rejected the hesitation and still clicked the ‘Apply’ button. Now the guy feels that in the future he will be able to conquer the business world because he has everything for this: knowledge, experience, and ideas that were formed during the participation in the project.

Taras, the participant of the Internship project

Taras learned about the project from social networks and decided: it's just for him. To become an intern, Taras went through the three stages of selection — filling out a questionnaire, training, and an interview. In the end, he got to 15 interns. For the participants of this project, the internship was a real test, because it happened just at the time when the country was declared quarantined, so we quickly had to adapt to the online format, work on tasks and even celebrate the final project online! For Taras, the internship grew into mentoring at the Package of Success project, where he had his team of 60 physical education teachers. This practice has become very valuable for the guy! In the future, Taras plans not to stop, but in 2021 to work on replenishing his experience and knowledge.

Believe it or not, there are more than nine of these stories. Because each of us is a story: with challenges, difficult situations, moments of euphoria, and success. And, turning the pages of the calendar, we begin a new chapter — 2021. May there be even more moments of joy in this story, more offline events, opportunities for growth, and the energy to realize your dreams!

So dream, move forward, and fight for your dreams! And the Klitschko Foundation team will always be with you!

Let's stay in touch and let's write a common story in 2021, full of courage, dreams, and new opportunities!

Happy 2021!