Participant of the Regional Competition "Young Person of the Year – 2025" in the Nomination "Youth Worker of the Year" Valeriia Koptseva
Valeriia Koptseva is a chemistry and biology teacher, and Deputy Director for Educational Work at the Maksymilianivka General Secondary Education Institution of I-III degrees of the Maryinka City Military-Civil Administration, Pokrovsk district.
Valeriia was born in 1992 in the small, picturesque village of Heorhiivka, near the city of Maryinka, in the Donetsk region. From childhood, she loved nature, so after graduating from school, she enrolled in the biology faculty of Donetsk National University. After receiving her specialist diploma, she returned to her native community and, full of determination and creativity, began her career as a teacher at Maksymilianivka School. After working for two years, she had the good fortune to become the homeroom teacher for a group of cheerful, friendly, and proactive children, working with whom further proved how important, interesting, and versatile the teaching profession is. Together with her students, Valeriia explored the beauty and grandeur of her native Donetsk region, traveling through the cities of the region, because, as she asserts: "Of course, students could see the beauty of their native land through computer monitors and mobile phone screens, but nothing can replace the vivid emotions that children experience when they see everything with their own eyes."
In 2021, Valeriia was appointed Deputy Director for Educational Work. She is convinced that raising children is an important and responsible task, and fostering a true citizen-patriot in today's realities is an integral part of the educational process, as children are the future of our country. That is why the teacher motivates students to participate in various activities. Under Valeriia's leadership, students of Maksymilianivka School have joined all-Ukrainian, regional, and district competitions and campaigns of various kinds. In 2022, the teacher involved students and parents in the International Natural Science Interactive Competition-Marathon "Kolosok for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," where funds for participation were transferred to support the Armed Forces. Valeriia also encourages students and colleagues to participate in charity work. For example, in 2021, students and staff of Maksymilianivka School joined the "Coins for Children" campaign, organized by the National Bank of Ukraine and the "Tabletochki" Charitable Foundation. The goal of the campaign was to collect 25-kopeck coins, which had gone out of circulation, and convert them into aid for children with cancer.
Valeriia herself actively participates in community and regional events, is a member of the creative group that developed and created the electronic format of the "Book of Remembrance" "Maryinka Community: Heavenly Legion" and other projects and events. For 3 years now, her development of the Educational Institution's Patriotic Calendar has taken first place at the district stage of the "Know History, Cherish the Future" Patriotic Calendar competition, and prize-winning places at the regional level. Together with Ukrainian language and literature teachers from her educational institution, she participated in the regional festival "Seek Good, Seek Beauty," where their works in the "Literary and Musical Mix" nomination have consistently won prizes for the second year in a row.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Valeriia has shown herself to be a woman with a big, kind heart. When the decision was made to establish a temporary shelter for people evacuated from the cities of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, where active hostilities had begun, at the Maksymilianivka General Secondary Education Institution of I-III degrees, Valeriia actively participated in preparing the premises for accommodating people. She independently purchased food and necessary items that could help organize the daily lives of internally displaced persons. When the aggressor country began intense shelling of the village of Maksymilianivka and the need arose to evacuate school property, the young woman also did not stand aside. And proof of Valeriia's courage and dedication to her cause is that in 2023, under shelling, the teacher rescued important documentation that remained in the educational institution.
Valeriia did not leave her native land, but she was forced to leave her native home, which was completely destroyed by enemy shelling.
However, she does not give up and, with faith in victory and a happy future, continues to do her favorite work – raising and educating children.