“The war is here – those were the words my mom woke me up with that morning,” Oleks recalls. On February 24th, 2022, the life of 15-year-old Oleksandr (Oleks) Drevytskyi was changed forever. Leading up to the devastating Russian attack, expectations about the future of the ongoing conflict varied across Ukraine. While many had established escape plans and were mentally preparing to leave behind their home country and loved ones, Oleks and his family were still hopeful that human decency would prevent the Russian government from escalating the conflict.
“In that moment, I was incapable of feeling anything. I was in shock. So I just started packing my things quietly,” Oleksandr remembers. First, the Kyivan family was planning to join Oleksandr’s great-grandmother in Bucha, a city in the north of Ukraine. But by the time they were ready to leave, the area had been declared a war zone. As missile attacks on the capital intensified, staying put was no longer an option. The family moved to the city of Kalynivka in central Ukraine to live with Oleksandr’s grandfather.
“I knew it would be safer for us in another country”
After about a week, his mother, a genetic scientist, received an offer that turned out to be a lifeline: a scholarship to work at the Max Planck Institute for one year, with accommodation provided for the duration of the job. Similar offers were extended to Ukrainian researchers by institutions around the world in the aftermath of the invasion. Finally, the family had a chance to be safe. Except not all of them could leave.
Following the declaration of martial law in February 2022, most Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 were legally banned from leaving the country to ensure sufficient personnel for military mobilization. Oleksandr’s father had to stay. “I knew it would be safer for us in another country, but I dreaded having to leave behind family and everything I was used to. All I could think was that I don’t want to move again,” Oleksandr confesses.
On the 11th of March, it was time to say goodbye. Oleksandr, his mother, two of her colleagues, and the family dog, Ozzy, named after Ozzy Osbourne, drove off into the unknown. After a tense three-day journey, they finally arrived in the German capital. Despite arriving during the last few days of the lengthy and frigid Berlin winter, Oleksandr and his mother received a warm welcome. “The people at the Max Planck Institute helped us settle in and make our first connections in a foreign city. My mom’s boss would invite us to go on hikes and day trips with her and her family.”
Starting over in Berlin
Back home, Oleksandr was a top student. Though his life had taken a dramatic turn, his education remained a priority, and he continued regularly attending the online classes of his Ukrainian high school. For Oleks, having to transition to a completely different education system from the one in which he had excelled was difficult to come to terms with. Even more so because it meant acknowledging that the relocation wouldn’t be as temporary as initially hoped.
In addition, the sheer bureaucratic burden of enrolling a foreign adolescent in a German high school often proves to be a considerable challenge. Fortunately, Oleksandr’s grandmother was able to visit and offer support shortly before the new school year started. “The first three Gymnasiums either replied that they had no capacity left or needed more documents from my previous school that we couldn’t access. Lessing Gymnasium in Wedding was the first place willing to hear us out,” Oleksandr explains. After the school administration had examined his flawless report cards and advanced German-language certificate, he was granted a spot in the upcoming 11th grade.
The first person to notice Oleksandr’s exceptional talent at his new school was his maths teacher, who was also head of the department. What stood out to her was that Oleks didn’t just memorize and apply complex mathematical formulas but also took pleasure in understanding their origins and theoretical foundations. Witnessing his enthusiasm, she encouraged him to participate in the Maths Olympiad, in which the school’s best participants move on to compete in larger-scale contests.
In the year following his arrival, he placed first in his district and seventh in Berlin. The following year, he took the district title once again and placed fourth in the entire capital.
A talent for mathematics
From there, it only made sense to test Oleks’ abilities in the Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik, where participants solve increasingly challenging problems over the course of months. In this contest, Oleks won second prize in both the first and second rounds, putting him in the top 1 to 2 percent of participants.
At Lessing Gymnasium, about three-fourths of students have a migration background. Growing up in Eastern Europe, this kind of diversity wasn’t quite the norm. But to Oleks, it was comforting to know that many students could relate to his experiences as an immigrant. Gaining confidence and adapting to his new environment, he soon caught up with his fellow students – and then surpassed them.
In the German Abitur system, grade averages from 1.5 to 1.0 are considered excellent, almost guaranteeing that graduates can pursue higher education at their desired institutions. Achieving this goal is seen as an impressive outcome for German students, and an especially remarkable accomplishment for someone who had to adapt to a completely new education system.
Though Oleks didn’t think much of his performance in the Abitur exams, his results proved otherwise. Out of a maximum of 900 points, he scored 845 points, earning him the perfect grade point average of 1.0 and the best Abitur result at the entire school – just two years after arriving in Germany. After evaluating his written Abitur assignment on polynomial roots, the maths department agreed that Oleks’ exam paper was at master’s thesis level.
Turning talent into a future
Just as he was about to finally pursue his passion – studying mathematics at Humboldt University of Berlin – Oleks faced another challenge. His mother’s contract came to an end in 2023. Since then, she has been learning German and depending on basic income support. However, when Oleksandr started university, the amount of financial support his mother received was significantly reduced. To finance his studies, he therefore had to rely on either a student loan or a scholarship.
He applied for scholarships from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (SdV) – two of the most prestigious programmes in Germany. To his surprise, he was first accepted by KAS and shortly after by SdV, the latter only being awarded to around 0.5 percent of students in Germany. As an SdV scholar, he could pursue his mathematics degree without the financial pressure. “My life didn’t turn out the way I imagined when I was little,” Oleks reflects. “Then again, I always knew that I wanted to become a mathematician. Though the path leading me there is different from the one I originally expected, I feel it is now my responsibility to make my dream a reality.”
Based on his academic achievements, one might picture Oleks as a rather solitary prodigy, hardly interested in anything outside his own intellectual field. On the contrary, his pastimes like playing chess, listening to music, walking Ozzy and spending time with his friends from Lessing are just as important to him as to any uni student.
Another passion of Oleksandr’s over the past year has been leading mathematics clubs at various schools, where he introduces students to challenging problems beyond the regular curriculum and encourages them to discover the creativity and joy of mathematics.
On top of that, Oleksandr is engaged in community integration support: He regularly accompanies Ukrainians in need to doctors’ appointments or immigration offices, translating for them and helping with paperwork. These services are organized through a community Telegram chat where Ukrainian immigrants can seek support from their compatriots.
Finally, keeping in touch with his family back in Ukraine and closely following the news about his home country will always remain an important part of Oleks’s everyday life. Having attended countless solidarity protests in Berlin against the Russian invasion, he is convinced that the only effective weapon against Putin is a unified Europe and continued military support for Ukraine. “I always read the news about the war – as a Ukrainian, I feel it is my duty. But I made myself one promise: I will try my best not to look at the pictures.”
(Header image: © Vujadin Zdravković | Pixabay)
