UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (09/14/03)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

Ukie Week at Wildwood, plus surfing - WOW!

by Mykola Kucyna

WILDWOOD, N.J. - After a great two weeks at Sports Camp at SUM Oselia (the resort of the Ukrainian American Youth Association) in Ellenville, N.Y., our family decided to go to Wildwood for "Ukie Week." It was a nice vacation. I got to see all my friends again and hang out, while my mom relaxed on the beach. It was fun to see everyone from Philadelphia and Connecticut and New York again.

Everywhere we went there were more Ukrainians. It was fun meeting everyone on the beach, and just hanging out and talking about tabir (camp), and walking up and down the beach and looking for more Ukrainians.

However, my friends and I, Dan Nysch, Nick Patrylak, Erica Patrylak and Larissa Nysch - they're all from Philadelphia - did something new called Surfing Camp. It was a lot of fun!

We got our own longboards and wetsuits and an instructor to help us with safety and give us some basics. Then we were able to surf for a whole three hours from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It was awesome!

If you haven't gone to Wildwood for Ukie Week I recommend that you go. It's a great experience.

Mykola Kucyna, age 13, resides with his parents in Whippany, N.J.

63 children attend Parma parish's Vacation Church School

PARMA, Ohio - The 11th annual Vacation Church School sponsored by St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral was held here from Monday, August 4, through Friday, August 8.

This year, 63 children enrolled in seven classes. Each day the clergy conducted opening and closing prayers, followed by a brief message. The children then participated in five class periods - two of religion and one each of music, arts and crafts and lunch.

This year's theme was "We Are Family," and each day dealt with the various aspects of the home and Church family. Thursday was dedicated to the Ukrainian families who suffered and died during the 1932-1933 Famine-Genocide in Ukraine. The children visited the Famine Memorial Room in St. Vladimir's school building, in which many photos of the victims of the Famine were exhibited. The children then placed flowers in front of the Famine Monument on the cathedral grounds and sang "Vichnaya Pamiat" (Eternal Memory).

Friday concluded the school week with a program of songs performed by all the children and with closing remarks by the Rev. John Nakonachny, pastor, and Mary Ann Sklaryk, director of the Vacation Church School and youth coordinator of the parish.

"Lesia's Dream" - a new book for older teens

TORONTO - The young adult novel "Lesia's Dream" by Laura Langston, poignantly details the struggles of a Ukrainian family adjusting to their adopted country of Canada during World War I.

Fifteen-year-old Lesia and her family are from Shuparka, in the Halychyna region (Galicia) of Ukraine, which is under the rule of Austrians just before World War I. Lesia and her brother Ivan are determined to get their family out of the country, particularly as the rumors of war are circulating.

They succeed in saving and borrowing (against their father's wishes) enough money to get the whole family to Canada, including their pregnant mother, their father, and 3-year-old sister. And they do get a homestead in Manitoba - a glorified mud hut far from the town where others from Shuparka have settled.

However, this strange land looks nothing like the country they fled. As the family attempt to set up house and to adapt to an unfamiliar country, the threat of war becomes even more real and they are targeted for persecution. Lesia and her family become suspected enemies of Canada, and her brother and father are rounded up with hundreds of other men and sent to an internment camp.

Faced with racism and discrimination, scrappy Lesia must learn to overcome other people's ignorance, keep her head high and do whatever it takes to keep her family together.

"Lesia's Dream" highlights a little-known Canadian historical fact about the internment of Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans during World War I. Filled with intricate details of Ukrainian customs and traditions, "Lesia's Dream" is a gripping story about a family's survival.

The author, Ms. Langston, lives in Victoria with her husband, two children, an overfed beagle and a once-stray cat who moved in and now runs the household. A former broadcast journalist, she writes for both children and adults.

"Lesia's Dream" was released in August by Harper Collings of Canada. Ms. Langston is expected to tour the western Canadian cities of Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg this fall. (Perhaps some of our readers will get a chance to meet the author and might be willing to share their impressions with fellow readers of UKELODEON.)

"Lesia's Dream" (ISBN 0006392830) is available for $15.99.

SUM buddies lead soccer team to victory

ROCKAWAY, N.J. - Two members of the Passaic Branch of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (known by its Ukrainian acronym, SUM) led their soccer team, the Pasco Stallions, to victory in the Pocono Cup on July 12-13 in Pennsylvania.

George John Mikula III, a striker who is also known as "The Rockaway Rocket," and Michael Diduch, a goalie known as "The Duke," played key roles in the victory.

The Pasco Stallions of Wayne, N.J., emerged as the champions in the group of boys under age 11 after posting an undefeated record of five wins and no losses.

Mishanyna

To solve this month's Mishanyna, find the capitalized words that appear in the following text in the Mishanyna grid.

Dear UKELODEON Readers:

WELCOME BACK! You're all back from your SUMMER VACATIONS by now, we are sure. You're back to your busy SCHEDULES at SCHOOL, doing HOMEWORK and various other PROJECTS. You're probably also participating in many ACTIVITIES, both school-related and community-related - many of them no doubt within our own Ukrainian HROMADA (that's the Ukrainian word for community).

We haven't heard from you in a while, probably because you were away and having too much FUN to write about your SUMMERTIME ADVENTURES. But we, and we are sure your friends and peers, fellow readers of these pages, would like to know what you were up to.

So, just what did you do in JULY and AUGUST? Let's hear all about it. Let's see your great PHOTOS. Or just send us your photo and a couple of sentences about what you most ENJOYED this summer. What a COOL way to share information with others! (And to get your photo published in a NEWSPAPER...) Just look at what one of our readers from Whippany, N.J., sent in: a story about surfing camp in WILDWOOD (that's a famous New Jersey BEACH town). Sounds like he and his friends had fun. Plus, he probably gave others his age a few ideas on what they could do next summer.

So, come on. What are you waiting for. Put the PEN to PAPER, or get those FINGERS working on the KEYBOARD, and send us your impressions of your summer. It should make for fun reading in OCTOBER (our next issue) when summer seems so LONG ago...

Our next issue:

UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated October 12, please send in your materials by October 3.

Please drop us a line:

UKELODEON - The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10 - P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054.

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