Valeryia Shynkarova, originally from Minsk, Belarus, is currently a student in the US at Connecticut College. She has been dancing for 10 years and was a champion and a vice-champion of Belarus in sport-ballroom dances in 2008 and 2010. During her high school years, she volunteered in the NGO "Eco-Workshops for Children", "Eco Home", AIESEC Belarus, Youth Human rights movement and has implemented a 1-year environmental project about urban agriculture at her high school as the Youth Leadership Program Alumna 2014. In 2015, she studied in the European College of Liberal Arts in Belarus, where she majored in Gender Studies. Ms. Shynkarova is an alumna of the "4Youth" exchange program in Belarus and the "Creating the Future" program in Ukraine and Germany. Her recent activity in Connecticut College includes Office of Sustainability Fellowship, Community Partnership Assistance/Internship and the Social Entrepreneurship project implementation.

How do you motivae the youths living in developing world for the better future?

I share my experience and contribute to young people's development by implementing projects, volunteering and participating in exchange programs. By working with children, I rise awareness of current local and global issues, and then transcend their interest and motivation into self-designed initiatives and projects. As for now, I am an Executive Board member in the International Student association and in the Student Council, and I promote active citizenship by offering and implementing new sustainable projects, such as the Lending Library or the City Quests.