Episode Transcript
Femininity is powerful in all its forms, exceptional women.
Rare girls must be appreciated in every way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts,
and their unique ways of being.
Such rare girls are inspiring, and this is what this podcast is all about.
Hello, my name is Aziz, and my guest today is Polina Storozhuk.
Polina is an HMC project scholarship program winner to go study for two years in a British
independent school, and she was also a FLEX finalist of 2022.
Polina organizes different projects for youth with other teenagers, as she is a member of
LEAP platform.
One of their most recent projects was a plugging event, which is a combination of jogging and
picking up litter in their local park.
Polina enjoys reading, volunteering, and to develop herself in every way, as well as playing
table tennis and volleyball.
Polina had to evacuate to Poland due to the war in Ukraine, and she studied in a Polish
school for four months.
She took part in various competitions there and even won a table tennis championship in
Warsaw, where representatives of multiple schools.
Polina, how are you today?
Hello, I'm really excited for this interview.
I'm happy.
Thank you.
I'm happy.
I'm honored.
And I'm very curious to know you more, to know about your evolution because you're in
a period of life where you evolve and a lot of things happen.
So if your friends, both the ones from Ukraine as well as the new friends from England, would
describe your personality, what would they say?
And would they say something different?
I think that both my friends in England and in Ukraine would say that I am industrious
because they know that I really like academics and I have high ambitions.
So I set out high ambitions for myself and work for it, especially if it is about academic
life, school or university.
Also I think that they would say that I'm outgoing.
Maybe I'm not so communicative in the beginning, but then I'm really fun and I enjoy spending
my time with friends.
So in England, we have a lot of different activities to do with my friends.
For example, we went ice skating last week and we went bowling two weeks ago.
So we have a lot of opportunities to get to know each other better and get on with each
other well.
I like that.
And I have so many questions, but you said at first you're not communicative.
Does it mean you have like a serious poker face?
And so when you went to England, some people were thinking, oh my God, this girl looks
so angry and serious all the time, even if you're not.
Yeah, actually it is a precise description of what people say to me.
I don't know why, but I seem very serious in the beginning, but then I'm just like really
outgoing.
I want to make so much fun and just hang out with my friends.
But at first, I may be not so open, but actually I just like to know and to meet new people
because you get to know people, especially when I'm in England from different countries
with other traditions, languages.
And it's really cool to just being this international community.
Thank you.
And then to understand you even further, when you meet new people, have you ever had that
experience of feeling instant chemistry with someone where you feel like you know them
for a thousand years, like from a previous reincarnation, and you feel comfortable from
the first second, or do you need to observe, you need more time, and therefore the activities
and the outings, etc. are necessary for you to form anything that could be called a friendship?
I need to observe at first in most cases, but for example, I have one girl here, her
name is Sofia.
She's also an HMC scholar, but she's from Moldova, and we really got on with each other.
And also I have a friend here, Greta, she's from Germany, I learned German, so we also
speak with each other sometimes in German, and we're really like soulmates.
So yeah, sometimes I have these friends that I got on with them at first sight, and that's
really cool.
Thank you.
And how could you explain, since you're someone into studying, into academics, what is your
explanation of that soulmate connection, because it seems to be something beyond explainable?
I think that I have just similar values with these people, and also I really appreciate
people who know what they're doing in life, and they know that they need to work for what
they want to achieve.
So I think that common values, maybe common interests, but sometimes when we have different
interests, it's even more interesting, because you get to know people who have different
views from you, and you can just understand how they think about something.
So I think that common values is the most important thing.
Thank you.
I know, and you said that one of your most important values is academic exploration,
academic success, you're ambitious, you're industrious.
What are the biggest reasons or the motivations that you have that push you forward in this
when there is a day where you don't really feel like it, where it feels so hard?
How do you keep going?
What do you think about?
How do you remember?
How do you motivate yourself in those days?
I really thank my parents for this quality that they have developed in me, because they
always read books to me.
They try to teach me some new things and always encouraged me to move forward and to just
study and explore the world, but there wasn't a pressure for me to just, you need to get
good grades, you need to be the best at school or something like that.
No, just they encouraged me to self-development and that it gives a lot of opportunities,
because if you develop yourself, it is easier for you to get on with each other, to find
new opportunities for yourself.
And even that I came to England, it's also because of my parents, actually.
I found out about this program last year and when I applied for it, I really didn't know
if I would just cope with it because the application was really big and I needed to write an essay.
But my mom said that just try it, nothing will happen if you don't get in, but just
try and maybe it's your destiny and yeah, as you see now, I'm in England, so I'm really
grateful for that.
I'm happy for you about that.
And so to ask you then, you said that developing oneself leads to more opportunities, one,
other youth, do they realize this, do they understand it?
And if you could explain it in other words, what is the meaning of someone developing
themselves and what kinds of opportunities would they or could they expect?
As for me, developing myself is to get out of your comfort zone and just try out new
things, try if you are capable of anything new because when you just try a lot of new
things, then you realize that you have maybe talents in other fields or that you can do
anything in your life.
So I think that it's getting out of your comfort zone and I think that teenagers realize this
maybe not all of them, but my friends have the same values as me.
So yeah, they are also really industrious and hardworking.
But I think that maybe they will understand it later or some of them just don't think
that it is possible to get such opportunities.
Maybe we're not told a lot about it in our childhood or we just didn't have an example
of people who can achieve this.
Because for example, if I didn't know a girl who was an HMC scholar, I wouldn't think
that I can study in a British school for two years.
So yeah, I think that your acquaintances, your surroundings are really essential in
getting new opportunities.
Thank you.
And since you're surrounding yourself with industrious people all the time, do you need
really to speak to them in order to figure this out that they're your kind of person?
Or are you able to detect in their energy, in that fire in their eyes that they're someone
ambitious, motivated, living life in an exciting way where they're out of their comfort zone?
Or that's more difficult to do, so it's important for you first to have conversations with them
before you know what type of person they really are.
I think I can just start a conversation and then in the first seconds I can realize if
I will get on with this person.
Yes, I don't know, I always had this feeling when I just started a conversation with someone
and then we became friends.
So yeah, I reckon that it's more about intuition and seeing your soulmate.
Thank you.
And I would like to know, I know it's a difficult topic, but how was that day of the invasion
February 24th for you?
How did you hear about the larger scale war, about the bombs?
Did you believe it at first?
Did you not believe it?
Tell me the story of what happened, how you felt as well as the evacuation to Poland
and what you experienced throughout the journey.
Thank you for this question.
I think that it is really important to tell others about our experiences during the war.
The 24th of February was really the worst day of my life and I'm not exaggerating right
now.
I live in Rivne.
It is reckoned to be a quite safe area, but on the 24th of February I was really scared
because we had missile strikes in the whole of Ukraine.
There were accused in the shops, in the petrol stations.
I was really scared and my brother lives in Poland, so on the 25th of February we decided
with my parents that I go to Poland.
They stayed in Ukraine and we stayed on the border, on the Ukrainian-Polish border for
like two days and in those two days I walked on foot because we were driving in the car,
but there was a 30 kilometers queue there, so it was really difficult to just stay there
for a lot of days.
So we went on foot.
I said bye to my father, to my mom and came to Warsaw and I stayed there for nearly five
months.
Yeah, it was really difficult because I didn't see my parents, so now actually I just got
used to it that I don't see my parents, so I don't feel homesick and actually I don't
know if it is unfortunate or not, but I had to become more independent and I think that
as all the kids in Ukraine to grow earlier and now my region is reckoned to be quite
safe, but I live near Belarus and I know that Russians come to Ukraine also through Belarus,
so we are really afraid of next escalation of war.
My dad is in a territorial defense, so I don't know what to think.
I will just pray that we don't have the next phase of war and with this mobilization it's
really scary, so yeah, on holidays I think that I will stay in Poland, I will fly from
London to Poland and I won't go to Ukraine because it is not safe.
I'm worried about my parents, about my family, but I just hope that everything will be fine.
Yeah, I believe in our army and I know that we will win, but I don't know when, but I
believe that we will win.
Thank you so much, Polina, it sounds very emotional and all I can say is Slava Ukrainyi.
Hello, I'm Slava.
What is your plan nowadays?
What are your future goals?
Did they evolve and change a lot because both of this scholarship as well as that the war
is now maybe seven months in, etc.
What would be your ideal goal, ideal future next steps?
Actually, I'm not so sure right now what I want to do with my life, but I study politics,
economics and geography here, so I think that I will go to university and I will study some
of these fields, maybe economics.
I want to represent Ukraine and I do this here.
I just want to tell others about what is going on because, well, of course, people read the
news but as I'm Ukrainian, I know how it is in reality, how people cope with it and what
people need to go through in order to just be safe and understand that they will be alive.
So yeah, my mission here is to be an ambassador of my country.
So I hope that I will do this in the future as well.
And yeah, I think that I don't have such specific plans for my future.
I think that it's more like an improvisation just to live in the moment and see what will
happen next.
I agree and I believe in you and I wish for you all the success and more.
And so how would you describe moving to England?
Did you notice any culture shock things, any things that were so different compared to
Ukraine that they stood out to you?
Tell me about some of these things, if they exist or if not, how similar are the people
in England to Ukrainians?
Yeah, actually, we have a stereotype in Ukraine that all British people are so serious, so
conservative.
But in fact, when I came here, all people are so nice, lovely, they're really outgoing.
You just, I don't know, you can speak with anyone, you can just start talking with anyone
because they are also communicative and open.
Also, what I've seen and what I've heard is that they always use your name, like, for
example, they always say hi, Paulina, hi, Louisa, hi, Greta.
So yeah, they really pay attention to details.
The British tea is popular, it is really tasty, what can I say?
But actually, people tend to drink more coffee.
Is the coffee as good as in Kiev?
Unfortunately, I didn't try coffee in Kiev, but I like coffee here.
Thank you so much, Paulina.
This was such an enriching conversation.
I encourage you to keep going, thank you for participating, and I wish you a brilliant
day.
Yeah, thank you for this interview, thank you for the invitation.
I'm really excited that I had an opportunity to share my experience, share my knowledge
and some of stories in my life.
Thank you for this podcast.
