U.S. announces 10 exchange programs with Ukraine (10/05/97)

U.S. announces 10 exchange programs with Ukraine

by Zenon Zawada
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - After Roman Maxymchuk's first three high school years in Lutsk, he squeezed his way into a New Jersey high school his senior year through an exchange program called the Freedom Support Act Future Leaders Exchange. Mr. Maxymchuk is now a senior at Volyn State University, but his yearlong exposure to American technology and communities have had a lasting impact.

As a college sophomore, he co-founded the first English-language newspaper in Lutsk. Just this past summer he helped establish a community-service non-government organization, and its first project will be to establish an Internet center for Lutsk.

Mr. Maxymchuk is a perfect example of why American participation in exchange programs with Ukraine is crucial, said Steven Saum, director of the exchanges office at the United States Information Service in Kyiv.

On September 17 U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Green Miller, along with Mr. Saum and other administrators of several exchange programs, held a press conference at America House, home of the USIS offices in Ukraine, to announce the start of open competition for 10 U.S. government, academic exchange programs. The programs send hundreds of Ukrainian administrators, teachers and students to the U.S. "to develop relations and contacts on a grass-roots level," Mr. Saum said.

The largest program this fall is the Freedom Support Act Future Leaders Exchange, which, despite a 10 percent budget cut, is sending 180 high school students into the U.S. But while cuts in the programs' budgets have decreased the participation of high school students, Mr. Saum said three times as many Ukrainian administrators and teachers will be participating in the exchanges in the upcoming years.

For example, the American Council for Collaboration in Education and Language Study just introduced a new program called Partners in Education, which will be initiated in fall 1998. Through this exchange, groups of teachers from four oblasts in Ukraine will be placed in U.S. school districts for five-week internships, which will include class observation, presentations, school board meetings and workshops.

"Interest levels are tremendous," said Ivanna Reed, ACCELS' Ukraine country director. "Everyone who's been to the U.S. is changed somehow, and that's essential for the change that's necessary."

Mr. Miller and program administrators also took the opportunity to extol the importance of the exchange programs to both the U.S. and Ukraine.

"There's no better way to learn about each other then to travel and work with colleagues in fields of respective interests," Ambassador Miller said. "One of the merits of these programs is that they are based on free and open competition in which selections are made on demonstrated merit."

Ukrainian American support for these government-sponsored exchanges is urgent, Ms. Reed said, pointing to recent budget cuts in the ACCELS program Future Leaders Exchange. In 1995-1996, the program involved 303 Ukrainian high school students, Mr. Saum said. That number has now decreased to 180 students, according to Ms. Reed.

"The Ukrainian American community should be active in supporting these programs and writing to Congress in support for more funding," Ms. Reed said.

Many of the exchanges are one-sided, with Ukrainians coming to the U.S., Mr. Saum admitted. But he stressed the value Americans gain as a result of the cultural exchange.

"Even though these programs bring Ukrainians to the U.S., it's the Americans who participate as host families, as students Ukrainians meet or as students Ukrainians teach," Mr. Saum said.

Programs in which Americans can participate include the prestigious Fulbright scholars program for post-doctoral researchers or those seeking lecture grants. Mr. Saum said interested Americans could also participate as host families through the Freedom Support Act high school exchange and undergraduate college programs.

Anyone interested in an application or in participating can write to: USIS, vul. Melnykova 63, Kyiv 254650. Further information is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ah.kiev.ua/exchange/exchange.html.

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