Name: Kateryna Akymenko
Age: 29
Education: National Pedagogical Dragomanov University
Profession: Co-founder of Ukrainian Emerging Leadership Program in Stanford University
Did you know? Akymenko did active volunteer work when she was a student for the international HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Red Cross, as well as helping children with disabilities.
After graduating from National Pedagogical Dragomanov University in Kyiv, Kateryna Akymenko, 29, knew what she didn’t like about the Ukrainian education system.
“I got used to the fact that studying in Ukraine is just a part of life, during which you’re taught how to live, but your own personal opinion is never asked,” Akymenko said. “As a result, after graduation from university you don’t know what to do next.”
Akymenko and her husband Olexandr have for the last two years been helping young Ukrainian leaders to study at California’s Stanford University, one of the leading teaching and research institutions.
Akymenko helped found the Ukrainian Emerging Leadership Program in 2016, with the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute.
In 2015, Akymenko gained a place at Stanford. Her husband was a participant in another educational program and had the right to bring along his spouse. The program paid for both of their studies.
They came up with the idea to create a special educational program for Ukrainians. They decided that it should be focused on ambitious leaders who plan to return to Ukraine.
“At some point at Stanford University, we realized that before this trip we had never had a comparable experience in our lives, and a lot of people the same age as us or older would never have the chance to see what real practical training abroad is all about,” Akymenko said.
The couple noticed the small number of Ukrainian students at Stanford.
Michael McFaul, a professor of political science at Stanford University and a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, whom the Akymenko family asked for help, welcomed their idea and suggested that the famous professor Francis Fukuyama oversee the program.
The Akymenkos returned to Ukraine and started to search for sponsors to meet the $130,000 per-student cost. They were successful. Support came from Okean Elzy’s frontman Svyatoslav Vakarchuk; Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala, the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Astem.Foundation, the Omidyar Network, MacPaw, and Victor and Iryna Ivanchyk, founders of Believe in Yourself Charitable Foundation.
Competition for a place on the two-year program is fierce, with only three places annually and 300 applicants. This year’s winners are Nataliya Mykolska, the former deputy minister of economy; Ivan Prymachenko, an educational technology innovator; and Oleksandra Ustinova with the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv.
