The school in western Ukraine is home to about 400 cadets from across the country. On paper, it resembles any other high school, where students study mathematics, physics, English and history before taking the same national exams as their peers. But the daily life for these cadets is different.
As cadets wait to march out for the graduation parade, one straightens her classmate’s collar
Military drills, tactical exercises and drone training are part of the curriculum and taught alongside academic subjects by civilian teachers and military officers. “They go from boys to men to warriors here,” says the deputy head, Taras Hrytsevych. Now, after years of discipline and routine, those rituals are coming to an end.
Cadets tackle infantry obstacles and learn how to operate FPV drones
Heavy clouds hang above the schoolyard as 136 graduating cadets march in white uniforms. Parents, other family members and friends line the edge of the square, scanning the formation for familiar faces.
