Mykola D. is a Grade 11 student at BASIS Independent McLean, who moved here from Ukraine for the start of his tenth-grade year. Mykola’s story is a fascinating one, both because of his resilience in the face of change and because of the amazing work he’s doing in orthotics and prosthetics.

Mykola was always planning to go abroad to study engineering, but because of the war in Ukraine, he moved earlier than expected. His family moved to Poland on short notice when he was in 8th grade. He didn’t speak Polish, he was doing his schoolwork in English at a British school, and he was living outside his country for the first time. Despite all of that, he passed his state exams at the end of the year…in Polish!

Mykola learned about BASIS Independent McLean the next year while attending a Ukrainian school in Poland. He moved by himself to Virginia to start Grade 10. Living far from family and friends for the first time was hard, but Mykola has not only adjusted, but he has thrived. And, he has found a number of ways to stay connected with Ukraine.

First, Mykola works as the US representative of a seed oil plant in Ukraine. Yes, you read that right. He is a Grade 11 student representing a Ukrainian business. He built and maintains a database of potential clients in the food industry, networks and cold calls companies, and sets up meetings with executives. He said that his company has already shipped twenty shipping containers worth of sunflower kernels to the United States.

Most of Mykola’s work, however, has come in orthotics and prosthetics – a natural intersection of his interest in engineering and need in Ukraine. Last summer, he interned at a hospital in Ukraine, where he met and then joined a team working on orthotics. They take 3-D scans of patients in Ukraine, and Mykola cleans up the digital scan and 3-D prints orthotics that he ships to Ukraine. He has produced over two hundred since he started working with them.

Left: Mykola’s working model of ReTouch

Right: A digital scan of an orthotic device

His most exciting work, though, is on his own project: ReTouch. Mykola has designed and created a non-invasive device to restore the feeling of touch for people with prosthetics or severe hand neuropathy. It translates the pressure felt by the sensory glove and sends it to an armband, where mechanical pressure is proportionally applied to the arm. He has created a working prototype, which he is optimizing before conducting trials at a hospital in Ukraine.

Mykola hopes to someday start his own company working in prosthetics.

Mykola’s story demonstrates what it means to be resilient and to thrive in any circumstance. We are incredibly proud to have him as a Red-Tailed Hawk and can’t wait to see which path he chooses next.

BASIS Independent McLean is an Age 2–Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings. Considering joining the Red-Tailed Hawks community? To join our interest list for the next school year and receive admissions updates and more, please click here.