UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (09/12/99)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

It's the most wonderful time of the year

by Lydia Smyk

Many of us are familiar with the Staples commercial in which the father, galloping around in ecstasy, sings: "It's the most wonderful time of the year" - in reference to the beginning of the school year.

Generations before us established a multitude of Ukrainian schools throughout the diaspora. Whether they were parochial schools, schools of Ukrainian studies (Ridni Shkoly) or Sunday school, their goal was the same: to educate future generations in some form of Ukrainian spirit.

Since the concept of Ukelodeon is to engage our future generations, we though it would be fun to do a monthly profile of various schools attended by our children - sort of a "Mandrivka with Myshka" from school to school. We'd love to receive responses from educators and students alike!

Let us know about you! Whether you're from a Ridna Shkola in Saskatoon or a parochial Ukrainian school in Passaic, N.J., we'd like to feature you and our next generation on these pages.

If you would like to participate in this particular project please contact us at UKELODEON, 385 Tremont Place, Orange, N.J. 07050; or call Lydia Smyk, (973) 674-1201. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

P.S.: Hope you enjoy the new school year!

Mishanyna

Finding the words or phrases below to solve our September Mishanyna. Remember, all of the following are somehow related to the month of September or schooltime. (Hint: you might need to look in two adjoining lines/columns to find a phrase.)

art, back to school, backpack, book, class, geography, gym, history, homework, hryvnia, Labor Day, learn, lunch box, marker, math, paper, pen, pencil, play, read, ruler, September, teacher, think, Vasyl Stus, work , write

Swimming into the next millennium

by Nina Celuch

I am 13 years old, and I love to swim. The team I swim for is the Montclair Dolphins. I swim at many local competitions. At the "Silvers," which were held at Rutgers University, I competed against a hundred swimmers and placed third. Beside this accomplishment, I also swam in the Junior Olympics in March.

I qualified to compete at the YWCA Junior Senior National Swimming Championships held in Charlotte, N.C. This was held April 8-13. Here I qualified to swim in nine events. I swam my favorite stroke, the 100-meter butterfly, and placed in the top 15 swimmers with a time of 1:09.26. I also enjoy competing with the Tryzub Swim Team every Labor Day weekend at the annual swimming competition of USCAK [the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada] held at Soyuzivka.

Swimming is a very hard and competitive sport. You have to be very dedicated to swim. I practice four times a week for two hours all year long. Swimming has taught me the importance of discipline, and establishing and attaining goals.

Parma student is national champ in math

Andrew Mironovich, a student at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic School in Parma, Ohio, emerged as the third grade national champion in the math contest known as MATH FAX. Participants took one test per month for four months to compete in national, divisional and local contests. Andrew won both the divisional (statewide) and national titles among third graders. By virtue of his performance, St. Josaphat School took first place in the Catholic School Grade 3 Math Championship for Division 2. Holding his trophies, Andrew is pictured below with Sister Miriam Claire, OSBM, principal.

OUR NEXT ISSUE:

UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated October 10, please send in your materials by October 1.

Please drop us a line: UKELODEON, The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, (973) 644-9510. Call us at (973) 292-9800; or send e-mail to [email protected].

What I liked about camp: "Sumeniata" share their comments

After two weeks of "Tabir Sumeniat" at the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) resort in Ellenville, N.Y., several "sumeniata" (SUM preschoolers) were asked to tell Mykola Myshka what they liked best during Tabir Sumeniat.

Their responses follow.

Katrusia Midzak, 5, Philadelphia Branch: I liked the arts and crafts.
Danielle Kerr, 5, Hartford, Conn., Branch: I liked the stories the best.
Adriana Kohut, 6, New York Branch: I liked the singing.
Bohdan Woch, 5 1/2, Whippany, N.J., Branch: I liked lessons about SUM, and arts and crafts.
Natalka Midzak, 4 1/2, Philadelphia Branch: I liked the arts and crafts.
Alex Barna, 6 1/2, New York Branch: I liked swimming.
Marko Kozak, 6 1/2, Yonkers, N.Y., Branch: Swimming was the best.
Basil Stolar, 6, Philadelphia Branch: I enjoyed the bonfire.
Bohdanna Stolar, 6, Philadelphia Branch: I liked the bonfire, the dance and hike to the river.
Stefanie Laschuk, 5 1/2, Newark, N.J., Branch: I liked the dance.
Danylo Kobyleckyj, 5, and Stephen Kobyleckyj, 3, New York, Branch: We enjoyed the hike to the river.
Nusia Kerda, 4 1/2, Baltimore Branch: I enjoyed the food and liked the stories.

Myshka's mystery solved!

Well, Myshka's Mystery for June has been solved, finally. (To refresh your memories, Mykola Myshka had asked: On what special day during the summer does a mysterious flower bloom at night?)

And there's more good news: we have two persons who answered correctly.

Five-and-a-half-year-old Bohdon Woch, who entered kindergarten this past week at F. J. Smith School in East Hanover, N.J., and 16-year-old Lesia Ilyasova of Newark, N.J., a student at Union Catholic High School, who arrived here last year from Ukraine, both correctly answered that the day when the fern flower (kvit paporoti) blooms is the feast of Ivan Kupalo.

Lesia provided us with even more detail, correctly pointing out that today the festivities coincide with the feast day of St. John the Baptist.

Thanks for your greetings!

The Ukrainian Weekly has been receiving greetings from camps all summer long. We loved getting your messages!

Camp greetings (pryvity) were received from the following:

Lisova Shkola, which trains camp counselors for Plast, held in Hunter, N.Y., on June 26 through July 9;
Plast's Training Course for Counselors of "Novatstvo" (Vyshkil Novatskykh Vykhovnykiv), held in East Chatham, N.Y., at the Vovcha Tropa camp on June 27 through July 3; and
National Educational Camp (Kraiovyi Vykhkilnyi Tabir, known as KVT), a special camp for advanced members of Plast held at Vovcha Tropa on July 31-August 14.

Also received was a greeting from some "former youths," members of the Holuby Plast patrol in Mittenwald, Germany, who this year marked the 50th anniversary of their emigration from a displaced persons camp in southern Bavaria to the U.S., Canada and Australia.

CHECK IT OUT!

On page 17 of this issue read about "Ukrainian Week" in Wildwood, N.J., a famous shore town. Areta N.L. Trytjak reveals what Uke Week is all about.

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