From now on a tiny Volhynian town of Lokachi will be marked on the map of “marigold space,” promoted by Den/The Day across Ukraine. Lo-kachi boasts of a successful gymnasium, which was recently awarded the status of best school of the year. Principal Oksana Sakharchuk says that her fellow townsmen were lucky: the seeds came from Den’s two treasure chests. One chest, from Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, Sakharchuk received personally at the ceremony of awarding Ivshyna the title of honorary citizen. The gymnasium hosted the event, which was held in a cordial, family atmosphere. Mayor Bohdan Ius was presented with the other chest and handed the marigold seeds over to schoolchildren.
The flowerbed for marigolds from Nahuievychi, Ivan Franko’s native village, lies right in front of the main entrance to the school, next to a branchy bird cherry tree. The bird cherry tree blossoms in spring and fills the school yard with an incredible scent, while marigolds will be in bloom till the very fall. The flowers were sown by the youngest students from form 1-A, who were helped by class teacher Tetiana Shumuk and principal Sakharchuk. The latter had divided the seeds among all the children and was just on the point of telling them about Ivan Franko, his home village, and those who had given this floral treasure to the school, but the children turned out to be faster. They knew that the seeds had been brought by Ivshyna: their classmates Denys Holian and Marta Lyshuk met the guest and accompanied her to the assembly hall, where the awarding ceremony was held. Afterwards, during a tour of the school, Ivshyna looked into their class and wrote “Hello” on the board. The children could not wait to share all this with the principal.
Ivshyna graduated from Lokachi school, this tiny town is her birthplace, where she is fondly remembered and respected, and the children overhear this from their parents. As to Ivan Franko, this was a familiar subject, too: on that day the children read his fairy-tale The Kinglet and the Bear.
When the job was done, the kids wished the seeds to sprout soon and get enough water from the rain and warmth from the sun. They are looking forward to see the first sprouts.
By the way, a regional festival for gifted Volhynian children and their teachers was recently held in Lutsk. All of the children are winners of national Olympiads, competitions, tournaments, and contests. Sofia Neroda (form 6-B) from the Lokachi Gymnasium was awarded a diploma and a scholarship from Ihor Palytsia, head of the Volyn Oblast Rada. Neroda holds the first prize for journalism in the national competition of the Minor Academy of Sciences and the second prize from the national tournament of young geographers. Her teacher of Ukrainian Olena Boiko received a letter of commendation and a money prize. The title Best School 2017 became a sign of recognition of the gymnasium’s effort in working with intellectually gifted children. In other tournaments and competitions the Lokachi Gymnasium has won 5 prizes on the national and 40 on the regional level. For efficient management, professionalism, and a great contribution to the development of students’ creative and intellectual potential the school was awarded a diploma of the Department for Education, Science, and Youth at the Volyn Oblast State Administration and presented with a digital video camera and a laser printer. The principal, Oksana Sakharchuk, received a letter of commendation and a money prize for dedication and a great contribution to the state policy in developing the gifted students’ creative potential.
What has been sown, will sprout. This is true both of the marigolds and of those seeds of science and good citizenship which the teachers at the Lokachi Gymnasium plant in their students’ minds.
