UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (05/09/99)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

Hey, Canada!

UKELODEON wants to know: Where are our Canadian readers? We have already heard from "down under" and parts of the U.S., but as yet there has been no word from Canada.

Now, unless I am mistaken, there are one or two children in Canada ... In fact, I think we have a large Ukrainian Canadian population. So let UKELODEON know what is happening around Canada.

- Lydia Smyk

* * *

To get you interested, here's a blast from the past: on the right is a photo from St. Andrew's College in Winnipeg. Look for your parents, aunts or uncles among the students. Hmmm ... perhaps this will trigger a response.

St. John's School tops in spelling

by Peter Kasyanenko

NEWARK, N.J. - On April 27, four students from our school, St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, N.J., competed in the third annual Deanery No. 18 Spelling Bee. Michael Puzyk and Valerija Lysenko of Grade 8, and Olenka Pawlyshyn and I of Grade 7 competed against 22 students from five other schools. The event was held in the gymnasium of the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Maplewood, N.J.

The spelling bee was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., and all the contestants were extremely nervous. With only one chance to spell word correctly, one is easily disqualified. That's what made all of us nervous, yet made the spelling bee exciting. One by one, the contestants were eliminated until two finalists remained.

They were Olenka from St. John the Baptist and a student from Leo School in Irvington. They battled each other, spelling progressively more difficult words. Finally, Olenka's opponent misspelled a word, and Olenka was declared the champion.

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School has won the Deanery No. 18 Spelling Bee for the past three years. The past two spelling bees had been won by Roxolana Rak-Woloszyn, who is now an honors student at Oak Knoll Academy.

St. John the Baptist is really top-notch!

Ridna Shkola students visit Columbia U.

NEW YORK - The Harriman Institute at Columbia University on April 9, hosted a group of upper class students from the School of Ukrainian Studies (Ridna Shkola) in Morris County, N.J., for a daylong visit.

The visit began in the morning with a welcome from the director of the Harriman Institute, Prof. Mark von Hagen, who introduced himself and the two other Columbia University professors who were to take part in that day's program: Prof. Vitaly Chernetsky and Visiting Prof. Frank Sysyn. All three of these scholars are involved in teaching courses and doing research on Ukrainian topics.

After introductions, these three professors took turns describing the history of, and current opportunities in, Ukrainian studies at North American universities in history, literature and inter-disciplinary studies. After providing the students with a general overview of developments at universities other than Columbia, they described the rich variety of visiting scholars, lectures, conferences, discussions and scholarship on Ukrainian-related topics and issues at Columbia.

At the end of this two-hour meeting, which took place in the Harriman Institute's seminar room on the 12th floor of the School for International and Public Affairs Building on the university campus, students had an opportunity to ask questions. At the end of the morning meeting, the students and their chaperones joined Profs. von Hagen and Chernetsky for lunch at the Columbia Faculty Club.

After lunch, the Ukrainian students joined a group of applicants to Columbia University from throughout the United States to listen to a representative speak about what is distinctive about a Columbia education, namely, Columbia's famous core curriculum, and also received various tips and suggestions on applying to highly selective colleges. After that orientation session, the day concluded with a tour of the campus, which included visits to the undergraduate library and a student dormitory.

The visit was notable for the hospitality of Profs. von Hagen, Chernetsky and Sysyn, as well as the Harriman Institute's assistance in making all of the necessary logistical arrangements. The visit was initiated and organized by Dr. Bohdan Vitvitsky, a Columbia alumnus and parent of a Ridna Shkola student.

13-year-old is prize-winning poet

LIBERTY, N.Y. - Thirteen-year-old Christopher Kusznir may seem like a typical eighth-grader at Liberty Middle School, but he is also a prize-winning poet with a national award to his credit.

In mid-September of last year, Chris was one of 300 poets across the country who were selected as finalists of the Famous Poets Society. Thus, he became eligible to fly out with his parents, Volodymyr and Doris, to Anaheim, Calif., for the society's convention.

He came home from the convention as the youngest winner in the 1998 contest with a trophy for fifth place for the writing and oral delivery of his poem "Urban Jungle." News stories about his extraordinary achievement appeared in The Times Herald-Record of Middletown, N.Y., and the Sullivan County Democrat of Callicoon, N.Y.

Chris began writing poetry in sixth grade, encouraged by a teacher who introduced him to poetry, and his writing has already been published in several collections of poetry. His inspiration, Chris says, comes from movies, songs and events around him; for example his first poem dealt with the death of his grandfather two and a half years ago.

This year he received the Editor's Choice Award from The National Library of Poetry and his prize-winning poem was published in the anthology titled "Shelter in the Shade."

Chris has other interests besides writing. He plays football and is a Graeco-Roman wrestler (in the 140-pound class). He plans to continue being active in sports in high school and perhaps beyond, especially in wrestling, since he says he is getting quite good at the sport (he has a 13-3 record this year).

And, as for his plans for the future: Chris hopes to publish a book of his poetry - he has 62 poems ready for print and is looking for a publisher to fulfill what he refers to as "my higher goal" - and he wants to become a lawyer since he is interested in the courts, debating and politics.

Asked by UKELODEON whether we could print one of his poems on our page, Chris replied in the affirmative. We then asked him which poem he would like to share with his peers. His choice, "Blood and Flame," written in February, appears below.

Blood and Flame

Dear God, I find a new blessing in every coming day,
And then at night, before I sleep, I close my eyes and pray.
You've been there my whole life, keeping evil from my soul,
Pushing me along, so I'd meet my every goal.

My life's been like a battle, that I'll never win or lose,
The devil's in my face, in the form of drugs and booze,
I continue on my path, being careful not to fall,
But I know that it's been You, Who's held me through it all.

I've been seated on Your shoulders, but now I have to stand,
I'm strong enough to walk, and to meet my own demand.
I travel on my path, but there are holes along the way,
And in each I find the devil, convincing me to stay.

To this day I'm being torn, between evil and what's good,
It's hard resisting him, but I do the thing I should.
Sometimes he almost gets me, breaks my path so that I'll slip,
But it's then I see Your hand that helps me if I trip.

I thank you, dear Lord, for making sure I was prepared,
When You held me like a baby, if the devil left me scared,
You brought to me my heart, when it was that, the devil stole,
His flames have often burned me, but Your blood has healed my soul.

Mishanyna

Solve our May Mishanyna (hodgepodge) by finding the words below. Happy hunting!

Babtsia, best wishes, flowers, holiday, Holy Communion, honor, love, Mama, May, Memorial, Mother's Day, pansy, respect, rose, Sviato Vesny, tsiom, Victoria, Zlet.

Myshka's mystery

In honor of this month's mystery solver, I am a place - not a person. I was named in honor of an oldest brother. I have gates of gold and am verrrry old!

And, the answer to last month's mystery: Pavlo Skoropadsky, who became hetman on April 29, 1918.

The correct answer was submitted by 9-year-old Olena Lyashchenko who was born in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and has lived in the United States since the summer of 1995. (P.S.: She's a high honors student in Grade 4 at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark N.J.)

(Remember, send in your answer to our May mystery and your picture could appear in Ukelodeon. How about someone NOT from New Jersey, since four of our last five mystery solvers were from the "Garden State"??!!!? How about you kids in Michigan, or Pennsylvania, or Ontario, or ...)

Check it out!

In this week's issue of The Ukrainian Weekly (on the four pages before UKELODEON) we publish Mother's Day greetings, in the form of artwork and written messages, from our young readers age 12 and younger.

OUR NEXT ISSUE:

UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated June 13, please send in your materials by June 4.

And, don't forget, your input and ideas are welcome. So, drop us a line:

UKELODEON , The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, (973) 644-9150; telephone, (973) 292-9800; e-mail, [email protected].

UKELODEON is prepared by the editorial staff of The Ukrainian Weekly working in conjunction with Lydia Smyk, an elementary school teacher at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, N.J., and mother of three.

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