Mikołaj Wolanin, a law student at two Warsaw universities, has been named one of the top ten students in the world, the Foundation for Student Rights, of which Wolanin is president, announced in a statement. “A huge distinction, for which I am very grateful!” the 22-year-old wrote on social media.
The Varkey Foundation and Chegg.org announced the finalists of the Global Student Prize on Wednesday, an award for the best students. The top ten winners include Mikołaj Wolanin (born 2002), president and founder of the Foundation for Student Rights (FnrPU), established in 2019. The winner will be announced in September – the other finalists come from, among others, Canada, ArgentinaMalaysia and Turkey. Mikołaj Wolanin is the only finalist from Europe.
Pole among the best students
Mikołaj Wolanin studies law at the University of Warsaw and canon law at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University. From February 2022 to June 2023, he was a volunteer and then an employee of the Short-Term Stay Point for Refugees from UkraineIn 2020, Wolanin was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize, and in 2023 he received one of the main awards from the Mayor of Warsaw Award.
Nicholas WolaninLukasz Cynalewski / Wyborcza.pl Agency
Mikołaj Wolanin is also the chairman of the Main Committee of the Student Rights Knowledge Olympiad, the representative of the Foundation at Child Rights Connect in Geneva and a member of the Student Rights and Obligations Team at MEN – we read in the FnrPU press release.
Mikołaj Wolanin on “a huge distinction”
– The Global Student Prize is a very big distinction and I am very happy about it. But this award is not about me or any of the other people from the ten, it is about social activism. So I would not attach importance to the names that are on this list, but to the idea of this competition – says Mikołaj Wolanin. “A huge distinction, for which great gratitude!” – he added in a post he posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
Award for the best student
The Indian educational foundation Varkey Foundation and the American organization supporting students and students Chegg.org are organizing the competition for the Global Student Prize for the fourth time. This year, the competition received about 11,000 applications from over 170 countries. In July, 50 candidates were announced who advanced to the next stage. This list includes three people from Poland – in addition to Wolanin, Marcelina Maciąg and Martyna Łuszczek.
The winner – who, as the award website states, “has a real impact on science, the lives of their peers and society” – will receive $100,000. Organizers will announce this year’s winner in September. Previous winners include Jeremiah Thoronka from Sierra Leone (2021), Igor Klymenko from Ukraine (2022) and Nhial Deng, a refugee from Sudan South living in Kenya (2023).
The Varkey Foundation also runs a competition for teachers, the Global Teachers Prize. Since 2015, seven people have won the prize – and the million dollars.
Main image source: Lukasz Cynalewski / Wyborcza.pl Agency