teaching programing to junior schoolchildren
The girl conducts lessons of Scratch for pupils of 3-rd and 4-th classes in the village of Dovhe
founded… a hub in a small Transcarpathian village
The founders themselves call it the Opportunity Space or simply Dovhe Hub
two schoolgirls and a workshop on croudfunding
We had been working on launching the hub for almost a year
We did everything by ourselves – the wooden furniture
Then painted everything and cleaned the facility
The first one is intended for children to meet
The second one is meant for programming studies and watching documentaries on a viewer
We are currently participating in a Ukraine-Slovak project
named “An active citizen – effective authorities”
– Last year we had some studies in Uzhhorod and discussed the problem of 2-shift school studying in our village and the like: children don’t have a place to study after their lessons and no place for extramural activities
Myroslava says that nothing like the space they have created ever existed in the village and nobody even dreamed of it
outfitting of the room and the general project launching
the girls could give a real training workshop to even many town projects
for they used almost every possible source for raising funds
The facility was given to us free of charge by the village council
The computers were presented by Code Club and EPAM companies
Thanks to them we have the opportunity to teach programming to pupils of 3-rd and 4-th classes
We also raised some money by showing films in the open-air format
Collecting waste paper gave us 2 600 hryvnias and another 2 000 we gained at a charity fair
We had a volunteer from the Corps of Peace
– says the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl
another co-founder of the Dovhe Hub likes the place mostly because of the quietness and then
there are books and one can watch documentaries on the video viewer
– I joined the project a little later that Myroslava and helped mostly with the equipping of the facility
for the opportunity for kids to study programming using new modern computers
What I also like about it is that we launched book-crossing in Dovhe
and our home folks can freely exchange books
We are also planning to launch lessons of German and Slovak
says that it is mostly the pupils who are to be praised for the establishingof the hub
– It is quite a long story – I mean the way the hub appeared at all
We were then participating in a Ukrainian and Slovak project
teachers took studies in Uzhhorod and Bratyslava and
they had to gather up their teams at schools
Last April there was a seminar held for pupils
The kids were given felt pens and map paper and asked to draw ideas that could improve their lives in their native towns and villages
Actually the HUB – that’s what they drew then
supporting the project “Dovhe StreetWorkout”
and a project on publicity of the village of Dovhe and the Teleky palace located in our village
Both of them are currently being carried out as well
when a 12-year-old schoolgirl teaches programming
– A I am a volunteer and teach kids to program in Scratch
My first volunteering experience was in Irshava
and this summer Halyna Volodymyrivna asked me to teach kids here
It is already the second module this summer
I studied Scratch as I was a pupil in Class 4 yet
I got really interested and began to design projects myself
It is exciting for me to teach kids what I learnt myself
There are two more girls in our class that are really good at programming
I am currently studying HTML and JavaScript
I would like to create sites in the future and gain profit from that
Being a teacher of Computer Science myself
I do realize: this is the Internet era going on
We can advance – and that is a source of motivation and a stimulus for me
We can be whatever we want and wherever we want
We are living examples to prove that everything is possible
Even a provincial village can receive funds as a support for launching an educative location
people that don’t know us personally at all
Someone sent 10 dollars and someone else – a hundred
Funds for the sports ground constructed by three schoolgirls from our school were mostly received from Dovhe inhabitants now living abroad
The Dovhe HUB also includes a book-crossing point
you have to bring one of yours and put it to the shelf
The HUB founders were worried at first: people might bring old and dull books…But their fears were not justified: readers bring really nice editions and share them with pleasure
a native from Dovhe and a well-known photographer nowadays
helped make the HUB bookshelves more modern
He managed to do it due to his own page on Facebook
raising over 10K hryvnias to purchase modern books
– I am glad that we have succeeded in completing a few stages
as participants of a program aimed at improvement of a dialogue between citizens and authorities
we managed to get this communication going on
We even had Internet connection installed free of charge and we use it also free of payment
Our project proves that you can really make your desires come true
the founders seriously considered the need of such location not only for kids but for adults as well
So in the week-end interesting events for a senior generation may appear on the schedule
The abbreviation STEM comes for S as in science
And the Ukrainian project STEM girls is aimed at teaching girls in these areas
since there are only about 25% of graduates among STEM staff
over 50 educational establishments joined the program
And there is only one from Transcarpathia – the secondary school of Dovhe
Two school leavers started it – Tetiana Symkanych and Yulia Kopolovets
– Our main task is to motivate the girls by supporting them in learning various technologies and explaining what they are capable to reach using their brain
Help them realize they should not be afraid to be smart and be themselves
I want our girls to realize they’re strong
various experiments and researches on the program
– Tetiana shares her thoughts with us
The schoolgirl is not definitely sure if she wants her life in future to be related with science and technologies
I would hate staying at home doing nothing
when I get interested and have an opportunity to do something useful for other people
It will be really nice if we succeed in helping someone find their way in life
our age-mates from our home folks will launch a new company like Apple
and we will be telling it’s us who helped it realize it
says that she will pay special attention to programming and computer graphics
while her brother is already a student in Lviv by this profession
– I do hope that people will get interested here
Even without attending any definite programs in the HUB
you can just come here to do your home assignments
It is important for me that this is a place opening up opportunities for my friends
The HUB has been recently visited by the Prime Minister on the issues of European and European Atlantic integration of Ukraine
– The built-up of a state dreamed of long before by many generations of Ukrainians
the one we fought for at Maidan Square is going to be a difficult and painstaking process
These people cannot be invited in fair numbers from abroad
punish with repressions or buy at a big price in a recruitment company
school and university…A new quality standard for officials will only appear
when we obtain a society with a new set of values and demands
One doesn’t need to be a predictor to realize that this set of values does not allow for behavior like “Bugger it!” it used to be not long ago
Therefore our common matter is to invest into it as much as possible
even thought we cannot expect to reap the fruits of it any soon
I was pleasantly surprised by the HUB for youths in the village of Dovhe
For many years we gave no alternative to alcohol
rogue songs and the serials like “The In-laws”  for our kids
in this Transcarpathian provincial village I saw a book by Dmytro Kuleba
by Niall Ferguson and lots of other cool books that could be none the worse to read by those whose duty is to lead us to the brave new world
It is important that the youths are concerned with the HUB themselves
They have courses in programming and in foreign languages – Slovak
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