"My Social Upgrade" - Global UGRAD Most Significant Change Story

The story below was collected during a Most Significant Change evaluation and was selected as the most significant change in the domain of "Competencies and Personal Development."

“My Social Upgrade”
Violetta Skyrypnykova, Ukraine
2010-11, Lincoln University

I’m a recent graduate, and I think all the changes that are happening in my life are due to Global UGRAD program.

First, I would say that I became more independent, grown up, more responsible, and so on. But also I have changed in my character, in my future. I became more open-minded and socially active, and I even changed my lifestyle. One of the most significant changes is that I got to believe in myself and to estimate my powers more adequately. On our welcome day at Lincoln University, the dean said, “Believe in yourself. If you don’t, why should we?” This was the first day, and even that day I felt some changes. And it was some trigger for my future. The second was from my greatest teacher in the world, from Lincoln. When we were saying goodbye, he told me, “Don’t try, but do your best to be the best.” And those words that I heard from two different people from a small American university may have changed me forever.

The next thing that is that it made me feel my national roots, connect to my religion and heritage. I’m Jewish, and before I’d never thought about what it means. Sometimes I was shy and didn’t want to recognize it. In the US, a pastor asked me to participate in Bible studies. I told him “I’m Jewish,” and he said it was perfectly fine. He asked me some questions, and that inspired me to learn more about my roots and heritage. I fell in love with guy who is a Muslim, and it made me not only study Jewish culture, but also feel Jewish. I’m now an active member of a Jewish club.

The program helped me to change my lifestyle to understand what I want and my purpose in life. I’m always thinking about my heritage and it helps me to be better, to do my best. It inspires me a lot. It just changed me.

I’m planning to be connected with some social events, projects grants, some charity events because I feel responsible for all of the stuff happening around me, and I think we have a lot of improvements to make in community and country. To change the big community, you need to change the small community.