Student stories

Rasa Beatričė Urbonaitė, a graduate of Vytautas Magnus University (VDU), completed her bachelor's studies in Social Work and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Music Therapy at Vilnius University. Volunteering, music and traveling are important in her life. The girl has a visual disability, but she does not remember a single case when it would have prevented her from pursuing her dreams. Why did you decide to volunteer? Difficult enough for the disabled…

Žygymantas Menchenkovas became interested in philosophy while still at school, when he read Christine Schulz-Reiss's book "I'm interested in philosophy" in the library. Even though he didn't understand anything then, as he says himself, philosophy fascinated him all the time because of its mysticism. Now Žygymantas is a 1st year PhD student in philosophy. The boy has a hearing impairment, but is actively involved in social, political and artistic activities: "As a philosopher, I am interested in...

Lukas Beliūnas, a student of East Asian languages and cultures at Vytautas Magnus University (VDU), went on a bilateral exchange in Japan at Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku University, wanting to see everything he had seen in Japanese animation live. The boy has TAR syndrome, which is characterized by a lack of platelets in the blood and a lack of bones in the limbs. However, Lukas states that one should not doubt and try to fulfill one's desires without being restricted by disability....

Can volunteering change the world? Gintarė Bieliauskaitė, a fourth-year Sociology and Anthropology student at Vytautas Magnus University (VDU), believes that it really is! The girl was born with brittle bones syndrome, so she could not implement her plans more than once due to physical limitations. However, this did not stop her from active volunteering, because, as Gintarė herself states, every time she faces obstacles, new opportunities arise....

Augustė Paulauskytė is a student of Italian and Romance languages at Vytautas the Great University (VDU). In the spring, she spent four months on an Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Trento, Italy. Augustė suffers from cerebral palsy, due to which a walker or a wheelchair helps the girl to move. As a result, the trip had to be thought out more carefully, but it did not stop it from experiencing one of the most memorable adventures. What motivated you to participate in the exchange? The big incentive was…