The Common Good Over Personal Interests, the Desire to Develop and Rebuild One’s Country, and Adaptation to New Conditions: Moderators of the Aspen Teens: Fight for UA Dream Project Shared Their Feedback

Moderators of the Aspen Teens: Fight for UA Dream project, Olga Maslova, PhD in Biological Sciences, science popularizer, and Volodymyr Fadieiev, Head of the Department of the H.S. Skovoroda’s Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, shared their observations on the most relevant discussion topics.

Ten seminars of the Aspen Teens: Fight for UA Dream project have taken place. The final dialogues coincided with Russia’s massive shelling of Ukraine. However, as noted by the moderators, this did not significantly affect the dynamics of the discussions. Seminar participants actively took the initiative and eagerly shared their thoughts on national identity, the importance of developing an independent and economically capable state, and Ukraine’s place in the European family.

Olga Maslova: “Many teenagers realize their role in rebuilding the country, including those currently abroad. Knowledge about identity and values complemented the participants’ constructive intentions, and now they can formulate their potential contributions more clearly. The general trend is that young people see Ukraine’s victory in the foreseeable future and understand the need for hard work in reconstruction after the war ends.”

Volodymyr Fadieiev: “Considering that a significant portion of the seminar participants were abroad, the dialogue allowed them to correlate their personal experiences with the seminar texts and support their arguments with their observations and impressions. Participants actively responded to questions about solving current problems caused by the war. The discussion on the reintegration of the population from de-occupied territories and the environmental issues exacerbated by the war, among others, proved quite productive.”

As noted by the moderators, young people are ready to discuss rather complex texts and provide well-founded answers to the proposed questions. The seminar format, as evidenced by the participants during reflection, allowed for productive dialogue and exchange of ideas and offered a way to understand the texts, which would have been difficult to achieve independently. These discussions raised young people’s awareness, helping them become drivers of change in their communities.

The following season of the Aspen Teens: Fight for UA Dream project, implemented in partnership with the Klitschko Foundation, has logically concluded. However, registration for the next series of seminars with an updated program will open soon.

Young people are the drivers of positive change!