Ukrainian Teacher Launches Anti-Drug Campaign

Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program alumnus Oleksandr Korotkov recently developed a month-long anti-drug campaign, “Healthy Future,” for youth in the Kyievo-Sviatoshynskyi region of Ukraine. An English teacher working outside Kyiv, Korotkov applied for a TEA Alumni Small Grant to support his efforts to reduce and prevent youth drug abuse across the Kyievo-Sviatoshynskyi region. During the summer of 2010, Korotkov trained 70 secondary school teachers on how to successfully deliver anti-drug training and social support to at-risk students. Teachers were introduced to a variety of strategies and techniques to combat drug use, alcohol use, and smoking among youth. Korotkov also organized a poster contest for students in his school.

Korotkov was invited to deliver a presentation about this workshop to a local parents’ association to reinforce the anti-drug message at school and at home, and he intends to present follow-on workshops this fall to check in with students’ efforts to remain drug-free.

The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) brings outstanding secondary school teachers to the U.S. for six-weeks of customized training at a U.S. university. Participants also complete an internship in a U.S. secondary school. Alumni of the TEA Program are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 in grant funding to support projects that benefit secondary-level students and teachers in their home countries. TEA is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, and implemented by IREX.