Petro Sitek

Educator/Teacher, Project manager, Student

Hello everyone! My name is Petro and I'm 24 years old. All my conscious life, I've been involved in education: teaching, advocating for education, and creating educational projects with substance. I've been a teacher at the Vilni School for 4 years, and since last year, I've been the head of the mentoring department. For the past six months, I've also been a co-founder of the School of Happiness. I graduated in sociology and I'm currently studying psychology. Additionally, I studied at the Ukrainian Leadership Academy, an institution of non-formal education that gave me a better understanding of myself and allowed me to explore different forms of education. This experience inspired me to pursue what I'm doing now.

I am passionate about change in education. I believe it is the only evolutionary path to change the world and make it a better place. That's why I have been working in education all my conscious life. When I was 14, my country entered a war. It has been three years since the full-scale invasion of my country began. And what I feared most has come true. My students are now the age when the war started for me. And this new wave has touched them differently. Therefore, I do not believe in isolated revolutionary changes. Instead, I aspire to build a shared foundation of values in global education that will shape a generation of people who will create lasting peace forever.

The study of happiness is a concept that should be promoted on par with other academic disciplines. All people need to feel happy. But we rarely talk about it in schools. How does it work? Why it is important? And how to help ourselves be happier? In contrast, we fill the school day with a large number of disciplines that not only will not be useful to students in the future, but also negatively affect mental health now. Therefore, I believe that the study of happiness in schools is an idea that needs to be spread.

People don't know that I sang in a church choir for 6 years. Few know that I play the ukulele. I enjoy being alone, even though I'm often in company. That I love children, even though I'm in education, which many don't see as an obvious correlation. That I strive to make the best decisions, but it doesn't always work out that way. That running is meditation for me. That I succeed in anything not because I'm lucky, but because I try many times until it works out. After difficult months, all I want to do is nothing.