Pine View School STRIVE Award Recipients

Daria Tiubin | When she was five years old, Daria Tiubin emigrated with her parents from St. Petersburg, Russia, to North Port, Florida. Although not too far from another St. Petersburg, Daria spoke almost no English and felt completely lost.

“I didn’t have any friends when I first moved,” she said. She quickly realized: “Wow I don’t understand anyone. I didn’t understand my teachers at all.”

Her disorientation reached a new height when she was bullied at a water fountain because Daria couldn’t understand a girl telling her that she needed to move out of the way.

Read her full STRIVE story.