NOTES ON PEOPLE (07/16/06)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Joins law firm in Charleston

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - Nikolas Tysiak on June 15 joined the Business Department of the Steptoe & Johnson law firm. He plans to work in the fields of energy and real estate law at the firm's Charleston office in West Virginia.

Mr. Tysiak graduated from Washing-ton College of Law at American University in May 2005.

A member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 13, he is a past recipient of a Ukrainian National Association scholarship. He studied at the School of Ukrainian Studies in Watervliet, N.Y., where he was a member of the local Ukrainian community.

Mr. Tysiak graduated from the College of William and Mary in May 2002 with a B.A. in government and history, while also studying Spanish and Russian.

During his college experience, in the summer of 2001, Mr. Tysiak worked as an intern at the Ukrainian National Information Service in Washington. Several of his articles, in which he integrated his legal interests with the concerns of Ukrainian Americans, appeared in The Ukrainian Weekly. Topics ranged from human trafficking to reparations for forced laborers.

Work at the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice and tending to his own clients at the Washington College of Law Civil Practice Clinic helped Mr. Tysiak to further develop his legal experience.

Mr. Tysiak is the son of Slavko and Cynthia Tysiak of West Sand Lake, N.Y. His father is a newly elected UNA auditor.

Valedictorian at Buffalo school

by Judie Hawryluk

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Mary J. Michalow, 17, gave the valedictory speech for her graduating class of Mount Mercy Academy in June.

Graduation ceremonies were held at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo.

Deemed "the crazy class," Mary noted that it's the people who see things differently who push the human race forward; that the "crazy ones" who believe they can change the world are the ones who do.

Mary attended the local School of Ukrainian Studies and is a member of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization. She will be working with children this summer at the YMCA as a day camp counselor.

In the fall Mary will attend Ithaca College (Ithaca, N.Y.) to study journalism and English education. Her hard work and diligence won her the Ithaca College Park Scholar Award, which provides for full tuition, room and board.

Mary, her sister. Stephanie. and mother, Ulana Pedersen, are all members of Ukrainian National Association Branch 360 in Buffalo.

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