Olga is a first-year junior high school student living with her family in the small village of Eratyra, Kozani. She loves listening to music and dancing, and has a great passion for animals, especially her own pets, which she enjoys taking care of. She also enjoys life in Eratyra because, as she explains, “it is a village close to nature”. She also likes her school, which has very few students, and her friendships extend beyond her four classmates to include other girls still attending the village's elementary school. Olga's favorite subjects are Biology and Physical Education, and this year is her first time taking exams. “It doesn't seem difficult, but it sure requires studying!” she says.
During the 2023-24 school year, Olga's school implemented The Tipping Point Program for the very first time, which she attended with interest. “The first time I heard about The Tipping Point, I thought, what is this, what exactly are we going to do here, but in the end, I really liked it!” she explains, attributing this positive experience to the positive interaction with the mentors she and her classmates met during the program. “The mentors were very good! We had fun and learned at the same time. It was somewhat like a game, and it was nice!”
As highlighted in our discussion, Olga found it particularly interesting and useful that the sessions helped her understand topics she encountered in her school subjects. She especially remembered a session about organic products: “I found it interesting because by the time we were learning about organic products, we were also having the same class in home economics, so since I hadn't understood some things during the class, it helped me understand them better!”
She also greatly enjoyed a live group session on music: “The music session was nice because I didn't know there were so many genres of music, and I learned a lot. We did a presentation at school on Balkan music which I better understood”. One session, however, that piqued her interest and introduced her to a field she had never heard of was the session with an astronaut! “It piqued my interest because I didn't even know what stars and galaxies really are!”
Closing, Olga shares a bit more about her dreams and goals, which revolve around veterinary school and working with animals! “I've known from a very young age that I would like to be a veterinarian, so you should help us schedule sessions related to veterinary topics too next year!” she proposed to the TTP team. She is eagerly looking forward to meeting a veterinarian mentor in the continuation of the program!
