College mourns Pavlo Levkiv '11

Author: Jaime Fuller

The College community lost one of its most promising young students on August 1, after Pavlo Levkiv '11 drowned while swimming in New Jersey.

A memorial service was held in the 19-year-old's honor on Aug. 5 in his hometown of Rockaway Township, N.J., and 250 people gathered to remember the young man they had grown to love and admire.

Although Levkiv called Rockaway Township, a community of over 20,000 thirty-five miles from New York City, his home, his roots lay in Ukraine. He was no stranger to hardship even from birth, when a lack of oxygen to the brain from an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck led to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. At age 6, he moved from Europe to the United States, and quickly made his mark on his new community.

He excelled in academics and was accepted to the Newark Academy, where he competed on the cross-country and wrestling teams. The outdoors played a major point in his life; he enjoyed running and hiked mountains all across the country, including the highest peak in the continental U.S., Mount Whitney. The Island Beach State Park, where the accident occurred, was a favorite retreat of Levkiv and his father, Serhiy Levkov. The father and son frequented the park, often straying as far as 1,200 feet from a lifeguard in order to enjoy idyllic waters far from the crowd, never encountering any trouble until August 1, when an unexpected rip current took Levkiv's life.

It did not take much to admire the liveliness and passion of Levkiv because he was in no danger of a shortage of either. He embraced all aspects of life, whether academic or recreational, with the same verve, leaving nothing he accomplished to be deemed second-rate.

"He approached all challenges in life with courage, tenacity and self-assurance," wrote President Ronald D. Liebowitz in an e-mail to the Middlebury College community. "He will be greatly missed."

Despite the challenges Levkiv suffered with cerebral palsy, he persevered, and will be remembered as a devoted student and a steadfast friend. As a member of the Class of 2011, he wowed professors with his enthusiasm and scholarly achievement despite being only a first-year. His favorite subject was Physics, and his dream was to one day become a famous physicist.

Even those who did not know Levkiv personally will feel his absence from campus.

"Pavlo was brilliant at physics, and modest about it too," Michael Luby '10 wrote on his blog, mLuby. "On a weekly basis the physics students would be holed up in Bi Hall's fifth floor study room working frantically on a problem set as the deadline approached, and Pavlo would be there, patiently advising someone on how to approach a particularly difficult problem...I had been looking forward to seeing him in class and around campus next fall. I'll miss him."

Even though Pavlo will no longer charm the classrooms of Middlebury with his intelligence and exuberance, his remarkable story and spirit will linger in the minds of all who knew him.

Levkiv is survived by his parents, Serhiy and Iryna Levkov and his sister Anna.