🇪🇺 TEEN European Digital Community: Oak Tree from Kyiv, Ukraine

Oak Tree

I am a psychology student at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a strong interest in creative methods of communication, emotional expression, and community building. I actively participate in youth initiatives, educational projects, and international exchange programs, where I enjoy connecting people with shared interests and creating safe, supportive environments for dialogue. Theater, storytelling, and movement-based activities are especially meaningful to me because they help people better understand themselves and others, overcome social barriers, and express complex emotions.

The soil / the need

I was looking for understanding and support. My first encounter with theater happened when I was about 12 years old. I went to a school theater for the first time. At school, my classmates, for some reason, didn’t want to be friends or communicate with me, and I felt lonely. Then I learned about the theater club. I went there to find company, to find friends who would understand me. I went with the hope that theater would help me socialize and gain courage and self-confidence.

The first seed

A teacher / school

Tell us about that first spark

It was when I was about 15 years old, and I played my first leading role: Alice in Alice in Wonderland. My school traveled to several Ukrainian cities with this performance, and what a pleasure it was to play the lead in such a show. That’s when I completely fell in love with the theater and realized that it would be a very important part of my life.

Roots (people & experiences that shaped your path)

It was my literature teacher. Yes, it sounds unexpected, but it was she who suggested me for the role of Alice. She was my main supporter in my theater career. And even now, when I’m in my second year of university, we still keep in touch, and she told me to go to the university theater. She has always been the one who guided me along the path of art.

The trunk (what keeps you in theatre)

Freedom. I feel free when I’m on stage. It’s like home. Because I come alive on stage, so to speak. Hearing the applause from the audience at the end of a show, I feel alive, needed, seen. The stage was, is, and will be my true place of power.

Branches (future / desire)

I don’t know yet whether this will be my job or whether it will remain a matter of my soul. For now, I’m just living and enjoying the fact that I can perform on stage.

Are you currently involved in cultural activities?

Yes, sometimes

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Why?

Oak. I’ve always been told that I’m very family-oriented, strong, and sociable. So it’s now become a tradition to consider myself an oak.

Contact

Email: achube@gmail.com