UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (02/11/01)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

Unraveling a secret of the Canadian prairies in Manitoba

by Nick Rudyk

ROBLIN, Manitoba - Last summer, my father wrote an article titled "A secret of the prairies" (The Ukrainian Weekly, August 6, 2000). He wrote about our June trip to St. Vladimir's College here in Roblin, Manitoba, on the prairies of Western Canada. Today, months later, I am still unraveling this secret.

After a hectic summer of packing and planning, and a long but fascinating journey by car, plane and bus, I arrived at St. Vlad's at 1:30 a.m. on August 26 not knowing what to expect. (I certainly never expected that my luggage, which was shipped in advance, would arrive two weeks after I did). Now, four months later, I still don't know what to expect ... what will happen in the next five minutes ... what will happen tomorrow, as our schedule is subject to frequent improvements. What makes my St. Vlad's experience more enjoyable is that I'm sharing this year with a tightly knit group of 30 young men from throughout Canada. Being the only New Yorker in the crowd makes for some interesting moments.

Yes, we do have a normal five-day class schedule. My day begins with a Ukrainian class at 8:50 a.m., and wraps up with English Arts in the afternoon. Homework /study period runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Meals and chores are part of our daily routine. It is the remaining hours of each day that are impossible to predict. Last Friday we attended the Yorkton Terriers hockey game; today several of us are helping out at the Holy Redeemer hall with bingo. Tomorrow's extracurricular activities are anyone's guess.

Most people, myself included, assume boarding school is full of rigid schedules, that dry class work, is followed by more dry homework. Well, here at St. Vlad's, our academics have the highest priority, but they are not the sole priority. It is a learning experience to which I previously had not been exposed. In the morning your teacher could be teaching biology, but after class you could be teaching him how to humbly take a loss in basketball in the gym.

Weekends are always different. No two are alike. On Saturday mornings we usually have choir practice and/or Ukrainian folk dancing classes. The rest of the day is whatever we make of it. Last weekend, for example, several of us spent many hours cutting trails for cross-country skiing. With about 150 acres available, this could be a huge project ... if we had the time. But we do want to go cross-country skiing, and let's not forget downhill skiing (only several miles away). Another priority activity is getting our ice hockey rink flooded and ready for some world-class rough-and-tumble action. These are just a few highlights of our Saturday activities.

Every Sunday morning we take an active part in the liturgy. Most Sundays our choir travels to parishes all over Manitoba to sing the liturgy. Many of these parishes are small, and some have been experiencing declines in membership. Our visits invigorate the parishioners and bring them much joy.

Since I live near New York, I'm getting to see a part of Canada I would otherwise have never known about. During the spring of 2001 we will be traveling (tentatively) to parishes hundreds of miles north of where we are now. As an exercise in map reading, look for The Pas, Flin Flon and Thompson on a map of Manitoba. These communities - originally settled by Ukrainian miners after World War I - are located at the northern end of most roads. Our choir will participate in the liturgy in these towns as well.

Upon returning from church on Sunday the remainder of the day is ours. You can usually find a volleyball game in progress, or floor hockey, or basketball (defeated teachers practicing), etc. If sports isn't to your liking, you may join in a network game of Counter Strike in the computer lab.

Weekends usually leave us enough "veg out" time for some TV, music, videos, etc. But we keep that to a bare minimum since there's too much going on at St. Vlad's to miss out on. Some students have actually resorted to studying more on their own time. The excitement at St. Vlad's goes on 24/7/365.

Join us! We have room for a few more classmates. Call St. Vladimir's College, (204) 937-2173.

Parochial school students honored by bishops' visits

by Marika Robak

NEWARK, N.J. - The students and faculty of St. John the Baptist School and the parishioners of St. John the Baptist Church were blessed with the honor of having two Ukrainian bishops, Bishop Michael Hrynchyshyn and Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk visit the school and parish in the fall of 2000. Their excellencies each managed to find time in their busy schedules to pay visits to St. John's School on separate occasions.

Bishop Hrynchyshyn has served God for many years, holding the position of pastor here at St. John's Parish from 1967 to 1972. He was appointed the bishop of France in 1983, and is currently the president of the Vatican Commission of New Martyrs. He hopes to canonize many of Ukraine's and the world's martyrs. When he met with eighth graders, he explained this work and spoke of his travels through Europe in order to reach this goal.

Bishop Vasylyk has worked as a faithful devotee of God in Ukraine since 1947. Until 1988 most of this work was done secretly because of Communist rule. When speaking with the eighth graders, Bishop Vasylyk encouraged us to study, to work to the best of our abilities and to appreciate how fortunate we are to have so many opportunities available to us. He compared the wealth of opportunity and political freedom available to us in the United States with the lack of those qualities of life in modern-day Ukraine.

Bishop Hrynchyshyn and Bishop Vasylyk were inspiring and encouraged us to apply ourselves and make good use of the resources at our disposal.

Marika Robak is an eighth grade student at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School.

Attention Ukrainian parochial schools, Ukrainian high schools, Ukrainian studies schools:

Want to share news about your school? Why not send UKELODEON a school profile? Tell us what's new at your school, who your students are, what they are learning, what special programs they are involved in ... anything you think is special about your school.

SUM youngsters perform at "Yalynka"

WHIPPANY, N.J. - The local branch of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) closed out its Christmas season with a traditional "Yalynka" on January 28. The program was presented a week later than originally scheduled due to the heavy snow that fell on January 21. An intimate group gathered and enjoyed a program of carols, greetings, a "vertep" and a short play put together by counselors Zoryana Kovbasniuk and Christine Woch.

Grade 8 student advances in Geography Bee

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Marika Robak, a grade 8 student at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, won the school-level competition of the National Geographic Bee on January 10. She has a chance to win a $25,000 college scholarship.

The school-level Bee, at which students answered oral questions on geography, was the first round in the 13th annual National Geographic Bee. The kickoff for this year's bee was during the week of November 27, 2000, with thousands of schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories participating.

The school winners, including Marika, will now take a written test; up to 100 of the top scores in each state and territory will be eligible to compete in their state bee on April 6.

The National Geographic Society will provide an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington for the state champions and their teacher-escorts to participate in the National Geographic Bee national championship on May 22-23. The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship.

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek will moderate the national finals on May 23. The program will air on the new National Geographic Channel, and afterward on PBS stations produced by Maryland Public Television.

Mishanyna

To solve this month's Mishanyna, finds the words that appear capitalized in the text below.

There are many legends about the history of St. Valentine's Day. One of the most interesting ones is about the life of this SAINT. In 269 AD (By the way, do you know what A.D. means?) a young priest named VALENTINUS was arrested by the Romans for his Christan beliefs.

The Emperor CLADIUS II imprisoned him in a DUNGEON. A jailer named ASTERIUS felt sorry for Valentinus and let him befriend his blind daughter for company. This friendship helped Valentinus during his imprisonment. After a year Claudius summoned him and promised to grant him freedom if he would give up his Christianity. Valentinus refused and was sentenced to death outside the gates of ROME. According to LEGEND, just before he died on FEBRUARY 14, 270 A.D. he cured the blind daughter. On the eve of his execution he left her a note signed "from your Valentinus."

Over the years that phrase became a symbol of LOVE, FRIENDSHIP and AFFECTION for all. On this holiday we can remember St. Valentinus' DEVOTION and GIVING nature.

The concept of UKELODEON was based on the love of our children who are in reality the future. From the bottom of our HEART, all of us wish to thank all of our KIND readers who also BELIEVE in the importance of fostering this love. Consider this our VALENTINE to you.

Mykola Myshka's Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends.

Love,

Mykola

Letter to UKELODEON

The following letter was sent to UKELODEON in response to Mykola Myshka's question in the January issue.

Dear UKELODEON:

Mykola Myshka is wearing a Hutsul outfit called a "kyptar."

Orest Pyndus, Newark, N.J.

OUR NEXT ISSUE:

UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated March 11, please send in your materials by March 2. (Please include a daytime phone number.)

Send in your articles, letters, photos, etc. to: The Ukrainian Weekly, UKELODEON, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, N.J., 07054; telephone, (973) 292-9800; fax, (973) 644-9510; e-mail, [email protected].

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