First Ukrainian North American student of the year is selected (09/24/06)

First Ukrainian North American student of the year is selected

NEW YORK - Boyan Makarenko is the first annual Ukrainian North American Student of the Year. The USA/USA Program of the Coordinating Committee to Aid Ukraine Inc. (USA) sponsors the award.

Criteria for the award in its first year were: grades, SAT scores and a series of interviews. The 2006 award carries a prize of $1,000.

Mr. Makarenko is a 2006 graduate of Fordham Preparatory High School in the Bronx. While a student there, he attained a 3.95 unweighted GPA. He took seven AP classes, ranging from Latin to statistics.

He received General Excellence Awards in all four years of his study at Fordham Prep and graduated as a member of the National Honor Society. Upon graduation he also received the New York State Comptroller's Award for his school work in mathematics and science.

His SATs also were impressive with an SAT Reasoning total of 2020 and an SAT Subject test total for the three highest scores of 2270.

Mr. Makarenko was a member of the varsity swimming team at Fordham Prep for all four years, performing in short distance butterfly and freestyle events. For three years he was a member of the lightweight rowing team that won a bronze medal in the 2005 New York State Scholastic Rowing Championships.

He has also studied the bandura with Julian Kytasty, founder of the New York School of Bandura. He has gone on to perform with "Bandura Downtown" in New York City and elsewhere. Most recently, he successfully auditioned to become a candidate member of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit and attended the Kobzarska Sich Bandura Camp in Emlenton, Pa. He is currently preparing to perform with "Bandura Downtown" in its 2007 concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hryhory Kytasty.

This fall, Mr. Makarenko is beginning his college education at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. While in college, he plans to row lightweight crew and to perform on the bandura.

The USA/USA Program has been in existence since 1992. It has been an integral part of the Coordinating Committee to Aid Ukraine (USA) since 1995. It helps gifted students in Ukraine obtain full four-year college scholarships to leading English-language boarding schools and full four-year scholarships to colleges in the United States.

The USA/USA Program has a website that provides information about its core activities and information about educational scholarships and grants for Ukrainians around the world; log on to www.ukrainianscholarships.org.

The USA/USA Program has ambitious plans for the Ukrainian North American Student Award and is searching for sponsors to endow and expand this pilot award. Interested benefactors should write to: USA/USA, P.O. Box 250093, Columbia University Station, New York, NY 10025-1531. To find out more about the USA/USA Program readers may e-mail [email protected] or phone 212-475-5326.

The USA/USA Program is a beneficiary of the 501 (c) 3 status of the Coordinating Committee to Aid Ukraine (USA).

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