Since I helped found the USA/USA Program which helps talented students from Ukraine earn full four year college scholarships, I have some personal insights of my own on this topic.

Our students come not only to universities well known in Ukraine such as MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton, etc. But also to smaller excellent colleges such as Vassar, Sewanee, Bates, Franklin and Marshall. Our program has been in existence since 1992. So I have seen significant change in the attitudes of bright Ukrainian students. Yet, many observations of Ms. Popova that Ukrainian students are not comfortable with freedom remain essentially correct.

In my opinion, the best students from Ukraine even today are not likely to be spontaneous. Rather, they tend to be focused. They do everything to establish themselves academically (a positive), or financially (often negative), or simply physically (nearly always bad) in the West. In general, they submerge their reservations about America because life seems better here. Above all, it gives them the opportunity to challenge themselves.

Students often fail to understand the freedom that they have as a result of our program or the premise on which the program is built. Some go out of their way to make it clear that we are stupid for helping them attain freedom. Their thinking is that we are foolish to sacrifice our own needs for their benefit.

Many also fail to understand the premises of a meritocracy. Students can enter our program without paying any fees or bribes. Our students have very solid basic academic backgrounds from Ukraine and most can enter very competitive colleges. Nevertheless, some students seem to resent the program since they have to work very hard to attain their goals in our more meritocratic system. Life in Ukraine would have been easier for them. They often feel that they have to work hard alone and are not successful in forming support groups larger than two people. Because they have to work very hard to attain their personal aims, some feel that they have no obligation to be grateful, appreciative, cooperative, or helpful to the program that helped them earn a scholarship to Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc. They fail to understand that voluntary group activity often leads to greater individual success. So they avoid situations that require mutual obligations. In free societies, individuals see benefit in aggregation and even in division of roles and labor all bound by mutual trust, participation and assistance.

In earlier years, Ukrainian students fell diffident in the American college environment. Today, Ukrainian students, if they earn a scholarship, often feel superior to their American college peers and even to the other equally talented students from our program.

Our program is designed to create free individuals who can make their own decisions. We, unlike other programs focused on Ukrainian students, help much younger students attain scholarships. Our scholarships are for much longer periods of time. Our program is not prescriptive. We do not have any specific demands at this time other than helping the next wave of students. We acknowledge contributions to Ukraine and the world equally. Yet, these freedoms often generate skepticism among our students.

The Diaspora with its patriotic approaches also fails to understand our underlying principles. Their approach tends to be more prescriptive. Yet, our students are returning to Ukraine in increasing numbers to take on positions of responsibility at home.

Still, many of our students eventually adjust to their freedoms and do not want to return to Ukraine because of their absence in Ukraine and their own unwillingness to fight for them back home. Few students feel that they can bring ‘freedom’ back to Ukraine. Often the students have not become totally free themselves. Others simply still resent the now better understood restrictions at home. Some even frown on freedom in the abstract but not for themselves.

Some changes are afoot. In recent years, a few of our students have actually gone hitchhiking around Europe. A few have begun to construct their own lives from scratch. One woman has gone on to study and work in India. Another to China. One student has even dared to change his major from economics/business to philosophy. Other students clearly do not want to be shackled by a secure corporate life in America or in the West.

Thankfully, we have been spared nostalgia for the Soviet era. Our students occasionally complain about the Schengen restrictions. Their lifting would provide Ukrainian students greater mobility and might provide Ukraine, in the longer term, a greater appreciation of at least the freedom of physical movement.

Yet, Ukraine remains largely an unfree society.

I do think that Czechs and Poles are different. Membership in the EU and greater freedom of mobility is now enhancing those differences.

Even though our program remains very popular with student applicants in Ukraine, only one of our applicants who applied to our program clearly expressed the desire to be free from her drab mining town in western Ukraine.

Our selection process has adapted successfully. We select students who have demonstrated genuine intellectual talents and interest. We have highly focused and academically successful students. So the academic successes of our students are, without question, outstanding.

Yet, the ability of our students to aggregate freely, explore the world, and generate group synergy still remains a work in progress. One, after all, cannot accelerate a normal process.

Those who wish to encourage the appreciation of freedom in Ukraine might do well to support our boutique program financially so that we could continue, even expand, our work.

In the long term, I am confident our gifted students will bring more than a whiff of freedom back to Ukraine.

Bohdan A Oryshkevich
Founder, USA/USA Program
New York City

A much abbreviated version appeared in the Kyiv Post as a letter to the editor.

Bocharova, Iryna, 12.30.1991 Zaporizhzhia, Lycée No. 99 class of ’09. Iryna ranked first in her class during as a FLEX student at Portage Northern HS, Michigan (07-08). Silver medalist at the oblast level French Olympiad 08-09. She also had the highest score on our internal English exam.

Herasymchuk, Yevhen, 10.24.1993 Vinnitsa, Physics Mathematical Lycée Kyiv class of ’11. Bronze Medalist in physics in the all Ukrainian (Stage IV) physics Olympiad as 8th grader, 06-07 and as a 10th grader, 08-09; Yevhen has also been a competitive ball room dancer winning a national ball room dancing competition. Awarded FLEX Grant to study in the USA for a year (09-10). Selected to Gifted Youth of Ukraine. (http://mysom.org.ua)

Malyukova, Margaryta, 02.26.1995, Kharkiv, NVK Vertykal No. 166 class of ’12. As an eighth grader won a first place at the Kharkiv oblast English language Olympiad competing against ninth graders; Bronze medalist in the all-Ukrainian (Stage IV) geography Olympiad; scored third out of ninety seven tested students on our English exam even though she is our youngest seminar student. At this time wants to be a physicist.

Ostasheva, Olena 02.25.1994, Dnipropetrovsk, Lycée No. 100 class of ’11. Silver medalist in the oblast (Stage III) Economics Olympiad in 2008-2009. Bronze medalist in the oblast English Olympiad in 2008-2009. Member of a soccer team that won an oblast championship. Also plays basketball. Wants to study the interaction of economics and psychology.

Savedchuk, Solomiya, 04.06.1992, Kalush, Ivano Frankivsk oblast. Kalush Gymnasium class of ’09. Solomiya scored 200 on two of her ZNO exams (Ukrainian and biology) earning her an audience with President Yushchenko. She is one of only sixty nine students this year to get two perfect scores. She scored 199 and 198 on two other ZNO exams earning her a total of 797. Awarded a FLEX Grant to study in the USA for a year (07-08). She wants to be a medical doctor.

Shamrai, Viktoriya, 06.18.1993, Rivne, Specialized School No. 15, class of ’11. Silver Medalist in the all-Ukrainian Olympiad of English (Stage IV) in 2007-2008. Awarded a FLEX grant to study in the USA 2009-2010.

Tarasova, Svitlana, 07.14.1993, Kharkiv, Specialized School No. 80, class of ’10. Gold Medalist in the 2008-2009 in the All-Ukrainian Team Tournament (Stage IV) in geography.

Tunikova, Oksana, 05.27.1992, Syevyerodonetsk, Luhansk oblast, School No. 14, class of ’09. Champion in English (Stage II) at the city level, host of a regional television show for teenagers. She wants to be a journalist for youth. Concerned about the lack of ambition among Ukrainian youth.

Yukhymovych, Svitlana, 01.20.1993 Shepetivka, Khmelnitsky oblast, NVK No. 14, class of ’10. Two-Time Bronze Medalist in the all-Ukrainian Olympiad of English (Stage IV) 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. Selected to Gifted Youth of Ukraine (http://mysom.org.ua).

Zavydovych, Vladymyr, 06.11.1992 Kerch, AR Crimea, School No. 12, class of ’09. Scored a perfect 200 on the Ukrainian Math ZNO (university exams) even though he goes to a regular high school. Taught himself advanced math through books and correspondence courses, likes art films and plays volleyball; also had the only perfect score on our math exam out of ninety seven tested students. He wants to study computer science in one of the best universities in the world.

The ten seminar students this year were selected from one hundred ten who applied.  Ninety seven of these eighth to eleventh graders underwent a TOEFL type test and a Math SAT reasoning exam translated into Ukrainian.  Applicants came from twenty one oblasts plus the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol.

The ten selected students included five students who were gold, silver, or bronze medalists in national level (stage IV) Olympiads and Tournaments.  The selectees also included one of the very highest scorers on the independent national testing exam (ZNO) now required for all university applicants in Ukraine.  This student had perfect 200s in Ukrainian and biology, with 199 in English and 198 in chemistry.  Two students are members of the national Society of Gifted Children (http://my.som.org.ua).  One student is a winner of a national ball room dancing competition in addition to his academic achievements, and another is a journalist/host for a television show in Luhansk oblast.  Our youngest acceptee won the Kharkiv oblast English language Olympiad competing against students one grade higher.  She was not eligible for competition on a national level.

The selectees included eight women and two men.  They came from Dnipropetrovsk, Kalush, Kerch, Kharkiv (2), Rivne, Shepetivka, Syeverodonetsk, Vinnitsa, and Zaporizhzhia.  Four were graduating eleventh graders who will be applying to colleges.  Two will graduate in 2010, three in 2011, and one in 2012; these will apply to prep schools.

Iryna Shakhmantsir of Rivne and of Vassar College ’12 led the seminar.  Her assistant was Nataliya Ovchar from Zaporizhzhia who will begin at Jacobs University ’12 in Germany beginning this fall.  Katya Peremanova of Sevastopol and of University College London ’11 and Oleg Kozachenko of Kerch and Franklin and Marshall College ’11 assisted as needed.  Finally, Roman Yevstihnyeyev of Poltava and Choate ‘11, Anton Bastov of Chernihiv and Leysin American ‘11, and Denys Bastov of Chernihiv and Leysin American ’11 were the youngest volunteers.

CCAU Board Members. Front row, left to right: Svitlana Andrushkiw, Lydia Kramarchuk, Polina Vusata, Yuri Omelchenko, Roman I Andrushkiw. Back row, left to right: Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, Vasyl Mahno, Terence Filewych, Orest Temnycky

On April 19, 2009 The Ukrainian Weekly published an article “CCAU Elects New Board, Focuses on Education.” The Coordinating Committee to Aid Ukraine, or CCAU is a not-for-profit umbrella organization comprising the USA/USA Program and other initiatives. You can find this article on page 8 of The Ukrainian Weekly online edition by following this link

http://www.scribd.com/full/14348749?access_key=key-29522gcavhy0kfof7nkt

The USA/USA Program congratulates Tamara Halkina (Seminar 2004) who is graduating this May from Harvard with a Bachelors degree in Chemistry on her acceptance to seven PhD programs: Caltech, UC Irvine, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, and Scripps Research Institute. Tamara is interested in organic synthesis – looking at either organic reaction development or total synthesis of natural products for her Ph.D. project.

We are happy to see Tamara achieve great results and wish her to reach new heights in the near future.

Photo from http://www.z434.ru/

USA/USA alumni, scholars and volunteers are saddened by the death of Anastasiya Baburova, a journalist of Novaya Gazeta and an alumna of the USA/USA Seminar 2000. The brave journalist was murdered along with Stanislav Markelov, a human-rights lawyer, in Moscow. Even nine years ago in her application materials to our program Anastasiya showed an interest in democracy, human rights, and international exchange.  She wanted to combine a career in diplomacy with one in journalism. She did not win a full scholarship through our program but entered the Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).  The Economist has published her obituary on February 5, 2009.

The USA/USA alumni and friends all over the world support Anastasiya’s struggle against racism and fascism in Russia and in Eastern Europe, especially since Amnesty International has reported a rise in racism in Ukraine last summer.

Here is one of Anastasiya’s essays from nine years ago. She was an honorable woman of character since youth.

Lessons of Life

One of the biggest influences I’ve had in my life was my school teacher of English. She taught me during all eleven years of my secondary education and I think she has managed to make a pivotal difference in shaping up my personality.

Looking back at my school years,  I can visualize her figure, a  nice middle-aged woman with blue eyes, watching her students either encouragingly or with reproach but never skeptically. «Anastasia,- she once said pointing at my home writing,- I am afraid you put in much less effort than you should. That’s unacceptable. You are here to make the most of yourself. I know you just can write better because you are a gifted student». And I believed her, because to my ten-year-old ambitious frustration she was then  more like a mom than a school teacher.

I close my eyes. Some images still run deep in my memory.

Our light study room…early September…the teacher’s pointer glittering in the sun ray…Textbook Page 23, the political system of India…Stonehenge was probably built by extraterrestrials…A bunch of roses in the vase on the teacher’s table…Romeo, Romeo, why are you called Romeo…the Boston Tea Party… films…names…the gun shooting at Fort Sumter…Vivian Leigh, «Gone With the Wind»…the snow flowing behind the window, it’s December now…The Old Man and the Sea…Sir Christopher Wren designed Trafalgar Square…Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg address… the Soviet Union ultimately fell apart in 1991…Jingle, Bells…the greenhouse effect…the Constitution of Ukraine…the Christmas tree right next to my desk…

Books. Papers. Photos. Records. Videos.

We spoke about very many things and issues in class. The resources were never confined to the textbook.

When the teacher finally came over to say about Lincoln’s tragic death just a few days before the Northern states emerged victorious I was weeping inside.

I remember her telling the story about. I was entranced. I felt I wanted to achieve as much in my life as he did, and I yearned to be of as much use to others as he was. To me, that was the moment of truth. The happy revelation of knowledge. And there was no person in the world that minute whom I would trust more than my teacher.

According to the official syllabus, topic diversification was aimed at equipping  the students with well-sufficient lexical amounts related to various spheres. But I think our teacher’s primary concern was different. She made us think for ourselves, exposing our youthful minds to the world cognitive thought, and incited us to demonstrate our erudition and public speaking skills through class discussions.

Time passing…high school years…springtime exam steam…
Night-long reading…discovered the world around myself…
What will I do after I finish school
What will I be in ten years?
Should I think now? Or let alone the dark void ahead…
Well, what time is it?  Oh God! Three a.m.! Into bed…
Someday I’ll return home from Paris in a white Mercedes…Oh no, better New York…
Do sleep, you dreamy fool. Close your eyes. You’re sitting for a math test tomorrow…
Oh yeah, tomorrow’s math… But someday…

As we entered our high school years, our teacher started to raise the crucial question of our future careers. Gradually and unobtrusively, began she talking to us about personal qualities which lead over to limelight, relying largely on the biographies of prominent people, amplifying on the pursuits of their youth. Hard work was all she stressed, the only room at the top, and concentration on the positive to inspire yourself to work.

Any talent is one percent aspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Margaret Thatcher was not born to a high class family. Neither was Bill Clinton. They are self-made people and their success is entirely their own desert.

I am sure of my future, because I am working. I have the right to be sure. I deserve it.

Most importantly, the teacher’s confident manner removed our teenage anxiety and pressure about the upcoming. The way was not only that she inspired us to believe in work, but also her very shrewd and practical approach about our endeavors, the enthusiasm she fired us to explore international scholarships, grants, universities and colleges both in Ukraine and abroad.

«Define the goal you want to accomplish an start pursuing it. Do persevere. You’ll overcome».

Her attitude fostered spirit. I still remember the glow of harmony engulf me.

I am here to explore. To know the world. To learn Japanese and perform calisthenics.
To become an ambassador when aged twenty-one. (Why not?)
Meet the eyes of the Statue of Liberty.
Get to know what the Moon tastes when added to salad.
Eat some grapes at sunrise, with the turquoise along the sky.
Make some mirth in the parliament.
Climb a fir-tree.
Shake hands with the president.
Touch the Tower of Pisa before it falls.
Travel the world in eighty days.
Arise waves in a cup of tea and drink them.
Negotiate peace in the Earth.
Work 48 hours a day.
Enjoy the life.

-Anastasia, I’d like to talk to you about the coming study contests. This senior year, the competition will be very keen. But I think you can win. You’ve made rapid progress in your writing and…well, I like your work in general this year. It’s even better than the previous one…

My ultimate year, it became common for me to stay five or ten minutes after the class to speak to the teacher informally. But that day our talk lasted much longer. Somehow,  the focus shifted from the contests to my plans in the more distant future. She told me about her former students who now lived abroad and often wrote to her. We discussed many things a Teacher can share with a Student who has been with her for ten years and now is ready out, in the adult world, so alluring, so rigorous and so very full of opportunities.

The words she said to me before goodbye were hearty.
- I like your outlook and the way you conceive of your future. Adventure and hard labor are the two things that modern businesses are all about. Your passion for knowledge and new experience will be of much help.
I believe in you.

-Thank you.

It was that year that I won prizes from all three competitions I took part in, English, Economics and Russian. I also went on to pursue nationwide and won a prize from the National Economics Olympiad.

We are here to make the most of ourselves.
We are here to work forty-eight hours a day.
We are here to enjoy life.

Seminar 2000 students and volunteers hanging out in the evening

Anastasiya Baburova, 2000

Lisbon Council Policy Brief: European Human Capital Index in Western Europe

‘Some countries are courting disaster by allowing their human capital to stagnate.’

Lisbon Council Policy Brief: European Human Capital Index Central and Eastern Europe

‘The countries of Central and Eastern Europe lag Western Europe considerably in human capital acquisition or deployment and even worse – given Central and Eastern Europe’s stagnation in these areas – that gap stands to widen over time.’

Kseniya Pasechnik. Running in Place. Transitions Online. January 15, 2009.

‘Despite efforts to distance itself from Soviet times, the Ukrainian education system can’t kick its old habits.’

Bohdana Smyrnova presented the audience with her film about the lives of the USA/USAers, which will serve as a video letter to the potential applicants to the Program.

Dr. Oryshkevich leading the discussion

Welcoming potential volunteers in the New York office

Yuri Omelchenko (USA/USA Seminar 1994), who holds a degree in Economics from Yale, explaining the Madoff and Satyam schemes to the students

Classes take place every Saturday except for holidays at St. George School in East Village. The subjects taught heavily stress spoken and written Ukrainian language as well as Ukrainian literature, history, geography, culture. Religious instructions is provided but its optional.

If interested, please approach the USA/USA Program at 212-785-4170 for further details.

The USA/USA Students and guests

Dr. Oryshkevich highlights the value of the young talent gathered in the room

Seminar 2001 alumni: still good friends 7 years later.

Left to right: Marina is now an MD/PhD student at Northwestern, Yevheniya helps Dr. Oryshkevich with running of the USA/USA Program, Nastia is applying for an MA in International Relations, and Olga is a PhD student at UPenn.

We thank our generous sponsors Veselka, Self Reliance (NY) Federal Credit Union and Baczynsky Meat Market for their kind support.