Ukrainian students triumphed at the International Genius Olympiad in June, proving the nation has hope for its next generation.
Ukraine’s delegation of more than 50 students recently headlined an impressive collection of students from around the world at the 2024 International Genius Olympiad in Rochester, New York.
The students’ trip from Ukraine took a full 24 hours. From Kyiv to Warsaw by overnight train, a direct flight to Amsterdam, and another flight to New York’s Kennedy Airport. Finally, a seven-hour bus ride to the upstate campus of the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where a busload of Ukrainian high school students were finally getting a few hours of shuteye, preparing themselves for three days of intense competition with delegations from nearly 60 other countries.
But this Olympiad was not about team sporting events like the Olympics. It was a competition of intellect and creativity in eight categories, from STEM science, robotics, and coding to creative writing, the arts, and documentary filmmaking.
While most of Ukraine’s student delegation had never been to the United States, now they were here to represent their country in the latest competition. Almost 800 Ukrainian students competed for a chance to participate in the events, and 51 high school students were selected to attend.
By the first day of presentations, the irrepressible young men and women who made it to the finals were rested and ready. As the kids said, “Hra pochalaysa,” loosely translated as “game on!”
The Ukrainian students took home more than 45 medals and special honors for projects like “Fire Impactology – Wildfire and Public Health,” “Monitoring School Microclimate with modern devices,” creative essays like “The Mountain of Treasures” and “I am from the future.” And powerful short documentary films like “Honey and Minefields” and “The Last Terran” took home medals.
The fact is that nearly every country that sent their best and brightest youth to the Olympiad faced some kind of challenge. The students, indeed, arrived from Botswana, Vietnam, Kenya, Brazil, China, Papua New Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, South Africa, and beyond.
But while the Ukrainian students triumphed at the 2024 Genius Olympiad, a grim reality continued to unfold for these students at home. The students from Ukraine traveled from a country dealing with a violent invasion from Russia now well into 32 months of non-stop brutality. At least 18% of their country is occupied by hostile forces. Millions of landmines and booby traps have been set in conflict zones. As many as 100,000 Ukrainian military personnel have already been casualties of the war as their country has struggled with chronic shortages of weapons, ammunition, and troops. Nonetheless, Ukraine has managed to hold the Russian armed forces at bay – sustaining a fragile stalemate in spite of overwhelming Russian advantages in terms of supplies and personnel.
Fehmi Damkaci, founder and director of the Olympiad, told us, “Ukraine fielded a team that took home a record number of medals across the categories. They achieved so much while a brutal war consumed their country.”
While the main combat is concentrated in the east and south of Ukraine, every student who traveled to Rochester last month came from cities and regions that have been subject to incessant attacks from Russian missiles, drones, and artillery shells. Deliberate attacks focused on infrastructure throughout Ukraine will mean a rough winter for civilians who will face power and heating shortages and damaged schools and health care facilities.
Of the more than 7 million children in Ukraine prior to the invasion of February 2022, almost 5 million are living temporarily in other countries or have been internally displaced from eastern and southern Ukraine to relatively safer regions in central or western areas of the country. Ukraine’s children and youth, from preschoolers through graduate level, have suffered prolonged educational disruption.
A recent report from our organization, The Ukraine Children’s Action Project (UCAP), shows that even without reliable estimates of the dire consequences for children in the occupied portion of Ukraine, it is irrefutable that at least 22,000 Ukrainian children have been killed, injured or forcibly “relocated to Russia.”
Millions of these war-impacted kids are already suffering from significant psychological trauma, many grieving for the loss of loved ones in a war that, at this point, seems endless. And yet, Ukraine’s youngest remain resilient and enthusiastic about the possibility of a promising future for themselves and their country.
Perhaps not well understood by most Americans, Ukraine—while under what many consider a totally unwarranted, criminal assault by a hostile and aggressive neighbor—has been a genuinely functioning democracy. Its technological innovation and prowess are world-class. The country is beautiful, and prior to the full-scale invasion, cities were rapidly developing into bustling centers of culture, art, and advanced education.
There is no denying that the continuing destruction within Ukraine’s borders is an existential and palpable threat to the integrity of its sovereign democracy and its future development. But when the war is over, one way or another, if Russia does not prevail in its effort to take down Ukraine’s government and its thriving democracy, Ukraine will survive and thrive. Yes, the military must be capable of checking Russia’s forces, but the key to a productive future will lie with its youngest generation.
Antonina Dron, a 17-year-old high school senior from Kyiv, won an Olympiad medal for her project focused on creating green university campuses in Ukraine. We asked her how the war had affected her personal aspirations and why she selected this particular topic for her submission. “It’s now very important to me that once the war ends and it’s time to rebuild, we do everything we can to make our country green and energy consumption as efficient and climate-friendly as possible.”
From what we have seen in our many visits to Ukraine and the extraordinary accomplishments of those kids who carried the day at the Genius Olympiad, we are confident that Ukraine’s future can be peaceful and secure. But this is only possible as long as the country continues to be supported by the U.S. and the West.
Irwin Redlener
Karen Redlener
