Growing up in the countryside of Kyiv - Bogdan Muzychko

“My mentor is probably my father. So I'll tell you his story which is really fascinating to me and really inspiring. So, he grew up in a small mining city in the West part of Ukraine, which was where my grandfather was a miner and where my grandmother was a school teacher in a junior school. I grew up in the village near Kyiv, which allowed me to attend school in a city and also enjoy countryside life. Small rivers and forests were my playground where I spent a majority of my free time out of school.

My father studied law at university and then he worked himself up to CEO of an insurance company. This is really inspiring to me and I want to be a person like him. He's also a professional high precision shooter. He shoots long ranges and has gotten me into it too. So since I was really small, like seven or eight years old, he took me out to all kinds of different outdoor activities, like camping and hunting. I think that's really the thing I miss about Ukraine, where I can just go hunting or fishing or shooting targets with my father.

My father was a role model for me for my entire life. His leadership skills, critical thinking, and planning are merits that I admire. Apart from that, he was always caring and helped me deal with a lot of hard situations in my life. Being at an all-boys school, even though they can’t replace my father, people here helped me overcome my homesickness and became my friends and mentors. The boarding house is a great environment where you can be, and despite it being really far from home, I feel great that I am a part of this community.”