The team from Levi Yitzchak Schneerson Jewish Lyceum No. 144, the leading educational institution of the Dnipro Jewish Community, achieved victory in one of the five sections of the prestigious scientific tournament “The Second USUST Hackathon,” organized by the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technology.
The Hackathon lasted three days and brought together fifty-nine teams from over thirty lyceums, colleges, and schools in Dnipro and the region. This large-scale scientific tournament for youth combined online mentoring and offline pitching, as participants worked on their projects for two days under the guidance of mentor lecturers from USUST, with the final day taking place offline at the university’s educational and scientific institutes.
The Jewish Lyceum’s team, composed of 10th and 11th-grade students under the guidance of computer science teacher Olha Borysenko and mentor lecturer Yaroslavа Koltsova from USUST, developed and presented the project “Eco-Friendly Porous Glass-Crystalline Materials” – an innovative solution for environmental conservation and the development of modern technologies. The project was presented in the “Natural Science and Technological” section, held at the Educational and Scientific Institute of the Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology under the leadership of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Ihor Kovalenko. In this section, teams presented over ten innovative projects: from recycling tires into valuable raw materials to creating eco-friendly glass-ceramic materials, and developments in alternative energy, microbiological crop protection, and bio-identical compound delivery systems. However, it was the project by the Jewish Lyceum’s team that won first place and emerged as the winner of these prestigious scientific competitions.
The victory was awarded to the Dnipro Jewish Lyceum team by the highly respected jury of the section, which included: Artem Mandryka, Director of SmartSynthesis LLC, PhD; Lina Sokolova, Head of the Department of Physical Culture, Sports, and Health at the Educational and Scientific Institute of the Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology, Candidate of Technical Sciences; Serhii Hubarenko, Head of the Enamel Laboratory at Novomoskovsk Posud LLC; Tetiana Nikiforova, Director of the Municipal Institution “Center for Professional Development ‘Educational Trajectory'” of the Dnipro City Council; and Daria Bandura, Head Technologist at the MOVA Brewery.
“An atmosphere of innovation, creativity, and competition prevailed at this Hackathon, and we are proud that it was the team from Dnipro Lyceum No. 144, under the guidance of computer science teacher Olha Borysenko and mentor lecturer Yaroslavа Koltsova from USUST, that achieved victory in their ‘Natural Science and Technological’ section,” said Svitlana Romenska, Deputy Director of the Lyceum. “Undoubtedly, the diplomas, certificates, gifts, and well-deserved recognition are a reward for hard work, talent, and team spirit, and we wholeheartedly congratulate our wonderful lyceum students. For them, this success is not only a testament to their perseverance but also convincing proof of the high level of education at our lyceum, which the Dnipro Jewish Community and its Chief Rabbi, Shmuel Kaminezki, can rightfully take pride in.”
