Building Peace Through Dialogue-Based Courses
To counter the roots of violence, caused in part by a crisis of attention among the next generation, we run guided, dialogue-based courses in classical literature that help teens learn to listen, think, and speak in ways that create connection.
Small-group courses for teens
Discussion instead of lectures
Classical texts, stories, music, and art
Learning to listen, think, and speak across difference
A Different Way to Learn
Traditional education centers on one voice — the teacher's. Students listen, take notes, and search for the "right" answer.
Our approach is different. In a Socratic seminar, every voice matters. We think together, question deeply, and discover meaning through dialogue.
Modern Classroom
One speaks. Many listen. Questions have one right answer.
Socratic Seminar
Everyone speaks. Everyone listens. Questions open new ways of thinking.
A glimpse into the atmosphere of our seminars
This short film was created with our Eastern European students to capture the spirit of our project. It follows the same Socratic format we use in every class — speaking one by one, asking questions, and listening deeply, but this time, the conversation is about the project itself.
Why "Svet"
✨ Our name comes from the Slavic word for "light" (a root shared among Slavic languages) — a symbol Leo Tolstoy often used to describe the quiet inner work that makes peace possible. As he writes in War and Peace:
"He saw above him the high, eternal sky—unclear, yet infinitely deep and alive with light [svet]."
Leo Tolstoy's vision reminds us that true peace begins in the human heart.
🌱 "Svet" is an invitation: to seek clarity, to listen honestly, and to let dialogue illuminate what divides us. We chose this name because our seminars aim to kindle that same light in young people.
🕊️ Our work is shaped by the St. John's College seminar tradition, described by The New York Times as "the most contrarian college in America", and inspired by the UWC movement's vision of education for peace.
The Proof Behind the Method
Spark empathy and creativity
Reading and discussing Great Books helps us step into another's perspective and imagine new possibilities. Research evidence.
Sharpen critical thinking
Socratic Dialogue train us to question assumptions, weigh evidence, and reason more clearly. Research evidence.
Transform conflicts into understanding
Through shared inquiry, disagreements become opportunities to connect rather than divide. Research evidence.
Strengthen focus and attention
Sustained reading and open dialogue develop the ability to concentrate deeply in a distracted world. Research evidence.
You can explore a more detailed overview of how our method is supported by research here.
Courses & Partnerships
"As far as I know, this is the first time that students, in a very formal way — explicitly — want to use the St. John's College seminar mode as the way to solve a very big project, which is the psychology, history and toxicity of history that leads to conflict."
🏆 Projects for Peace 2024
Selected as recipients of the prestigious $10,000 Projects for Peace grant through Middlebury College's Kathryn W. Davis Collaborative. Our summer course successfully brought together students from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus for collaborative literary discussion during a time of conflict. Read the full interview.
💙 Every Donation Is Doubled
Thanks to an anonymous donor matching the next $5,000 in contributions, every gift now goes twice as far. Your support helps sustain our current programs and brings us closer to funding our first full operating year beginning June 2026. If you'd like to take part in the matching effort, you can support us here → Donate (matched 1:1)
Summer 2026 — Standalone sessions
Free Summer Seminars for Teens
Online, ages 14–19
Free, discussion-based seminars in small groups for students ages 14–19. Each date is a standalone session — read a short text beforehand, then explore it together in conversation. Register for one, several, or all of them. Spots are limited, so please only register if you can attend.
Dates: July 8, July 22, August 4, August 18, August 31
Prep: 30–60 min reading — Length: ~90 min
Apply here
Summer 2026 — 2 weeks
Many Ways to Be Human: Short Stories from Around the World
Online (UWC Short Course)
This international short course invites students to explore different ways of being human through short stories from Nobel Prize winning authors around the world. Participants reflect on experiences that speak across cultures and traditions. Each session starts with small group conversations and moves into a full seminar discussion, where students practice careful reading and learn to listen and speak thoughtfully across difference. Read more
Cohort 1 dates: June 21 – July 5
8 sessions (90 minutes each)
Cohort 2 dates: August 5 – August 12
5 sessions
Course fee: $100
Full scholarships available for students who cannot pay.
Applications closed
Spring 2026 — 5 weeks
Short Stories for Teens
New York City, in person
This course invited New York City high school students to read one short story a week, Chekhov, O'Connor, and others, and explore it together in an open, thoughtful atmosphere. Through attentive reading and careful listening, students practiced habits that help stop everyday misunderstandings before they turn into real conflict.
Location: Community Classrooms at Pier 57, 11th Ave and 15th St.
Dates: March 30th – April 27th
Partner organization: The Catherine Project
Winter–Spring 2026 — 12 weeks
Games, Community, and Conversation
Española YMCA Teen Center, New Mexico
This course was designed for middle school students at the Española YMCA Teen Center. Because participants were younger, sessions centered on everyday questions about friendship and fairness, with less time spent on sustained reading. Each session began with a collaborative activity or game that helped build trust and attention within the group. These activities opened into guided conversations where students reflected on what happened during the game and what it revealed about cooperation and responsibility to others. The goal was to help students experience conversation as a shared process of thinking together.
Partner organization: Institute for Classical Dialogue
Winter–Spring 2026 — 8 weeks
Music and meaning
YouthWorks Teen Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
This course was designed for teens with diverse and often challenging backgrounds, including students involved in the juvenile justice system. Sessions were built around rap music and practical life questions. Students listened to and discussed songs by different artists, using music as a way into conversations about identity and the loyalties and conflicts that shape their everyday lives.
Partner organization: Institute for Classical Dialogue
Spring 2025 — 8 weeks
Readings in Russian Short Stories and Poetry
Through Russian short stories, we explored how writers dealt with beauty and human destiny. Our group included students from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and these stories gave them a shared way to talk about the emotional and moral weight of their region's conflicts. The course let participants look at painful histories and current tensions through literature they all knew, even as their home countries remained in conflict.
- Anton Chekhov, Gusev
- Anton Chekhov, The House with the Mezzanine
- Yuri Mamleev, The Building Manager Before Death
- Andrei Platonov, Immortality
- Joseph Brodsky, Notes of a Fern
Fall–Winter 2024 — 12 weeks
History and Evolution of the Soviet Project
A close reading of excerpts from early Soviet and anti-Soviet thinkers, looking at how the Soviet experiment took shape and where its ideals broke down. Because the group included students from countries shaped in different ways by the Soviet past, the course became a place to work through the historical roots of today's tensions together. Through Socratic dialogue, students worked through conflicting narratives of shared history and learned to hold more than one perspective at once.
Summer 2024 — 12 weeks
Eastern European Literature
An intensive look at the works that shaped Eastern European thought and identity. Students from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus came together each week despite the war between their countries, building trust through Socratic dialogue. Even while their countries were at war, these students found they could talk honestly with each other, using literature as common ground.
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
- Svetlana Alexievich, Secondhand Time
- Nikolai Ostrovsky, How the Steel Was Tempered
How Your Donation Helps Us Build Peace
Sustain current seminars
Running a 3-month in-person course costs about $400 (excluding staff time). Your support covers space, books, materials, and student engagement.
Keep our programs free
Your contribution helps us offer free seminars to students in the U.S. and abroad — reaching over 150 learners yearly.
Become a monthly supporter
Monthly gifts help us plan ahead, keep seminars free year-round, and make Svet's program schedule stable for students. Even $10/month creates dependable support for each new discussion cycle.
Fund the year ahead
We are raising $65,000 to sustain Svet from now through our first full operating year (June 2026–May 2027), supporting staff time and materials for 15 seminar cycles. This includes support for our current programming (Jan–May 2026) and our full 2026–27 operating year.
Unlock larger institutional support
Demonstrated community backing helps us qualify for foundation grants and long-term partnerships.
Want to understand where these numbers come from?
Yearly Priorities (Fall 2025 → Fall 2026)
Over the next year, we are focusing on five core priorities that will help Svet Peace Project grow sustainably and deepen its impact.
🙌 Donor Outreach
Initiate outreach efforts to cultivate new donors.
📝 Grant Applications
Submit applications for multiple grant opportunities.
📊 Evaluation Tools
Develop tools for program evaluation and feedback.
🚀 Scale Programming
Expand programming based on developing partnerships.
🔍 Annual Review
Conduct a comprehensive annual review of activities.
Where We Work
We bring our seminars to students everywhere:
In U.S. public, private, and homeschool settings
In international programs, especially the Post-Soviet region
Online, open to learners worldwide
Project Founders
Our founding partnership emerged from a shared academic vision during our university studies. We recognized the profound need for accessible alternative educational pathways that leverage literary analysis as a foundation for critical thinking and intellectual development.
Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin
Kanstantsin grew up between Minsk, Belarus and Kyiv, Ukraine, absorbing the post-Soviet region's cultural complexity and political tension firsthand. His path in education started early, when he founded conversational English courses in Minsk that brought together students from different backgrounds. That work shaped his belief that people learn best through dialogue. After moving to Berlin in 2022, he learned German and immersed himself in European intellectual traditions before finishing his undergraduate degree at St. John's College. Kanstantsin is now pursuing a master's degree in Classical Leadership, continuing to explore philosophy and pedagogy through the Svet Peace Project, drawing on his cross-cultural background and his belief in dialogue as a way to bring people together.
Amir Bergen
Amir is an entrepreneur and a graduate of St. John's College. Born in Russia, he began his education at an Orthodox Classical Gymnasium, which sparked his lifelong interest in tradition and dialogue. His background spans Eastern Europe, with roots and family ties across several countries in the region. Before coming to St. John's, Amir studied at UWC Dilijan in Armenia, where he found a global approach to learning grounded in reflection and shared inquiry. Outside of academia, he founded and built one of Russia's largest vintage clothing stores, growing it into a community around creativity and sustainable fashion. Through his time at St. John's, he came to believe that education should cultivate independence of thought, not just transmit knowledge.
Board of Directors
We are officially registered in the State of New Mexico as Svet Peace Education Initiative Inc, a nonprofit organization. Alongside co-founder Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin, our Board of Directors brings together deep expertise in education, leadership, and peacebuilding:
Charles Bergman
Charlie is an educator and former international consultant with decades of leadership experience in both business and schools. He began his career with IBM, helping establish IBM China, before turning to education as a program director and head of school in California and Oregon. At St. John's College in Santa Fe, he revitalized the Office of Personal and Professional Development, expanding opportunities for student growth. He holds a B.A. from Amherst College, an M.S. in mathematics from University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University.
Victor Kazanjian
Victor is a global peacebuilder, leadership coach, and educator dedicated to transforming conflict through dialogue and compassion. He formerly served as Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative, guiding interfaith peacebuilding efforts across more than 100 countries. His earlier work as Dean of Intercultural Education at Wellesley College and Fellow in Peacebuilding at UWC-USA reflects his lifelong commitment to spiritual and social transformation.
Kathleen Longwaters
Kathleen is a Tutor (professor) at St. John's College and a scholar of literature, philosophy, and South Asian cultures. Before her academic career, she worked in genetics research and helped establish a cytogenetics laboratory in Germany. A Fulbright-Nehru recipient and multi-fellowship awardee, she has conducted research in India and Norway, where she also gave talks on ancient South Asian medicine and poetry readings in English and Urdu. Her work bridges Western and South Asian traditions, fostering cross-cultural understanding through classical texts and reflective dialogue.
Contact
Email: info@svetpeace.org
Phone: (505) 310-0190
Instagram: @svetpeaceorg
LinkedIn: Svet Peace Project
Address: 6001 Menaul Blvd NE #1169, Albuquerque, NM 87110, United States