Name: Hlib Stryzhko
Age: 22
Education: Oles Gonchar Dnipro National University
Profession: Ukrainian Leadership Academy mentor, founder of Ukrainian Intelligentsia Forge
Did you know? Stryzhko has been scared of cats since childhood. He once tried to save a kitten from a sewer and fell into it himself. He spent five hours sitting in the sewer during a cold November day until he was rescued.
It all started in 2017 when Hlib Stryzhko, a student from the southern city of Mykolaiv, started working in the History Institute of the Dnipro Development Agency. He was still studying at the Oles Gonchar National University in Dnipro, an industrial city of 1 mlllion people located 600 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
“I’ve met so many really adult, smart people at my work, “Stryzhko told the Kyiv Post. But I had to go back at my dormitory, and it; s small talk about computer games and other stuff I found depressing and unimportant.”
Once, during a nighttime walk on his floor, he came across an empty room that he soon turned into his own cozy corner — a quiet place where he could read or study in his overcrowded dormitory.
“I thought it would be cool to create an education space here. Two weeks later I created the Ukrainian Intelligentsia Forge there,” Stryzhko said. “My mom taught us to foster intelligence in ourselves. And that’s exactly what we are doing in the Forge.”
Stryzhko described the Forge as a place where people can improve in many ways: from different handicrafts to language classes, attending lectures and more. Stryzhko and other activist also created a library of 600 Ukrainian and English language books and a book club. In just a year, the small educational space in a dormitory has helped dozens of students discover what they really want to do in life.
University authorities tried to move the Forge, but Stryzhko and other students persuaded them to allow it to stay.
“I think it’s cool that students can attend lectures or discussions in our space, wearing a dressing gown and slippers. It makes education more enjoyable and helps young people to become better, and continues to make Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation better in the future,” Stryzhko said.
Stryzhko proudly calls himself a nationalist. He joined the Youth Nationalists Congress of Ukraine when he was 17. The image of a Ukrainian nationalist has been tainted with controversy: violence, racism and intolerance. But Strzhko has his own definition.
“For me, a modern Ukrainian nationalist is an educated and intelligent person who loves his country but does not hate other countries or nations. He just does everything to make Ukraine a better place to live,” Stryzhko said.
Stryzhko graduated from university this year and passed the management of the Forge to a new generation of students in September. He has returned to Mykolaiv, where serves as a mentor at a local branch of the Ukrainian Leadership Academy.
