UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (01/09/05)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

Hillside children welcome St. Nicholas with special program

HILLSIDE, N.J. - St. Nicholas made a special visit to children and adults at Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Parish here on Sunday, December 5, 2004. He was especially pleased to see so many good children and "little angels" waiting to greet him.

In honor of St. Nicholas, several children and adults presented a bilingual holiday entertainment program. Children's performances included the following: reading of "The Legend of the Christmas Tree" (Krista Erakovic and Nadia Szpyhulsky); recitation of the poem "The Cat and Snow" (Julianna Shatynski); singing of "Silent Night" (Sophika and Ariadna Stockert); musical performance of koliady with a harp (Sophika Stockert); and Christmas greeting and skit (Sofiyka and Marichka Soroka).

The Christmas greeting and skit were a special addition to this year's program. The Soroka sisters essentially brought the audience back in time to over 2,000 years ago. In Ukrainian, Sofiyka and Marichka recreated a conversation between an angel and a shepherd heralding the birth of our Savior - Jesus. Throughout the spirited conversation, the Sorokas sang several Ukrainian Christmas "koliady" expressing the great joy of the Savior's birth.

Odarka Polanskyj Stockert further nurtured the Christmas spirit by playing several international Christmas carols on the harp. A highlight of her performance came when her daughter Sophika joined her by playing her very own harp.

Mike Szpyhulsky served as emcee. Russ Pencak served as liaison to St. Nicholas. Jessica Boudreau, Alexa Curren, Ariana and Julianna Shatynski, Marichka Soroka, Sophika and Ariadna Stockert and Oksana Zaviysky served as "angel helpers" to St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas commented that it was a great privilege to have so many "angel helpers" this year.

Hillside's beloved new pastor, Father Joe Szupa, was present to lead the group in prayer and koliady. At the end of the program, Father Joe asked the audience to sing the Ukrainian national anthem, "Shche Ne Vmerla Ukraina," in honor of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine who were experiencing difficult times during the presidential election.

Mishanyna

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

On December 26, the people of UKRAINE elected VIKTOR Yushchenko as president. He is Ukraine's third PRESIDENT since the country proclaimed its independence in 1991.

Mr. YUSHCHENKO, who is 50 years old, was born in the SUMY region of Ukraine - that's in the country's NORTH. His father was a soldier in World War II and was sent to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp as a prisoner of war.

Mr. Yushchenko graduated from Ternopil Institute of Finance with a degree in accounting and economics. He also completed a graduate degree in FINANCE and credit at the Ukrainian Institute of Economics and Agricultural Organization.

He then worked as an accountant at a collective farm before going into banking. After working in that field in the Sumy region and then in the capital city, KYIV, he became chairman of the NATIONAL BANK of Ukraine. In that position he played a key role in formulating Ukraine's monetary policies.

He was appointed PRIME MINISTER of Ukraine in December 1999 and in that post succeeded in spurring the country's economic growth. However, his policies were disliked by too many people who were interested in keeping things as they were and Mr. Yushchenko was dismissed as prime minister in April 2001.

During the elections for Ukraine's Parliament in March 2002, Mr. Yushchenko's coalition, called OUR Ukraine, succeeded in winning many seats. The coalition has acted as an OPPOSITION to the administration of President Leonid Kuchma.

Mr. Yushchenko ran against the CANDIDATE chosen by President Kuchma to succeed him, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. It was a tough and bitter campaign, and Mr. Yushchenko suffered DIOXIN poisoning, apparently as a result of an attempt to either kill him or remove him from the campaign.

On December 26, in the THIRD round of voting in Ukraine's 2004 presidential ELECTION, Mr. Yushchenko won 52 percent of the vote, while Mr. Yanukovych had 44 percent. The candidate whose campaign slogan was "TAK!" (Yes) succeeded in winning, but he credited the people of Ukraine - hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of whom came out to support him in public demonstrations in Kyiv and other cities throughout Ukraine.

Mr. Yushchenko is married to a Ukrainian from the United States, KATERYNA Chumachenko, and the Yushchenkos have three children. (Mr. Yushchenko also has two children from a previous marriage.)

Just last month TIME magazine named Mr. Yushchenko one of the "PEOPLE Who Mattered 2004."

| Home Page |