Two Ukrainian students graduating from Stetson Saturday grateful for chance to study here

DELAND − After Russia waged a bombing campaign and invasion of her country two years ago, Yana Verbova thought the idea of earning a bachelor's degree from a U.S. university − let alone an Ivy League master's degree − seemed out of reach.

Yet here she is, about to walk across a stage and be handed a Stetson University diploma while also possessing an acceptance letter to enroll at Brown University for the fall term. Verbova and Yuliia Balan are the first two students to earn degrees as part of the university's Ukraine Initiative and will join some 860 other students to graduate from Stetson at its 138th commencement ceremonies this weekend.

In Chernivtsi, her home city in western Ukraine, Verbova took a friend's suggestion to apply for what she considered an unlikely scholarship at Stetson. The DeLand university has a Program in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies plus faculty and administrators who rallied in 2022 to raise money to offer full rides to four students from Ukraine, which had been invaded by Russia in a war that continues and has left untold thousands dead and disrupted millions of lives.

“I decided if I had the opportunity I should grab it in a heartbeat, so I just went for it. ... I can say that it was best decision ever," Verbova said. "These two years at Stetson definitely were a blessing to me.”

Stetson officials say the Ukrainian students have helped the campus gain a better understanding of the war and that part of the world.

One of three values Stetson identifies as part of its mission statement is to develop global citizens.

Stetson typically has five or so students from the Russian studies program learning the language and culture of the region through study-abroad programs, said Martin Blackwell, a visiting professor of history who has spent almost a decade living in Russia, Ukraine and neighboring nations.

“Americans these days, nobody’s going to Russia. Nobody’s going to Ukraine, really. And so in order to learn about Ukraine and the conflict or why Ukraine is a really, really important place, the way to do that is to have students from Ukraine study here at Stetson,” Blackwell said.

The university does have students in the region, including Georgia, Latvia and Kyrgyzstan, Blackwell said.

At the same time, having the Ukrainian students on campus in DeLand, he said, was sort of a "reverse study abroad."

Stetson seemed unlikely, but 'luckily, it worked out'

Balan – who’s from Ternopil in the west of Ukraine – was a student at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv when the war started, but was not in Ukraine. Instead, she was at a study abroad program in London.

“I wasn’t sure if I ever was coming back to Ukraine to see my parents because of the situation they had,” she said.

So she started looking for opportunities to continue studying outside of Ukraine, with the United States her dream location.

“One of my friends saw the announcement that Stetson was the only institution that offered (undergraduate) Ukrainian students scholarships who were being affected by the war in the entire state, which was really cool.” Balan said. “I was not expecting I would have a place here. Luckily, it worked out.”

She has earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and government from Stetson, while also continuing her goal of earning a degree in international information at her original school, Ivan Franko, where she will take final exams next month.

Along the way, she plans to reunite with her parents for the first time in nine months, before resuming graduate school at an international relations program jointly administered by the Central European University in Vienna and Bard College at its New York City campus. She will study in both locations in the next academic year.

While at one point she expressed a desire to work with the international community as a Ukrainian diplomat, now she is leaning toward pursuing a PhD. and becoming a university professor.

“These two years that I spent here, I realize that Stetson is my second home,” Balan said. “And I do appreciate all the support and help I got from the faculty members, from professors, from the organizers of the Ukrainian Initiative, because the work they put in this, it’s tremendous.”

Getting over homesickness: 'I just believed in myself'

Verbova is a native of Chernivtsi, a western Ukraine city about the size of St. Petersburg − the one in Florida, not Russia. She was in her second year of studying dentistry at Bukavinian State University when Russia invaded.

When she first arrived at Stetson in August 2022, she "fell in love" with the campus.

Yet within days, she began to wonder if she had made a mistake crossing Europe and the Atlantic.

"My first week was quite challenging because I had never been so far from my home. I have never lived away from my parents and my relatives back in Ukraine," she said. "I was feeling extremely homesick but I just stopped. I just believed in myself."

She and Balan both recalled that initial wavering.

During an interview this week, Balan asked Verbova: “Do you remember the talk we had one night, me and you in the living room? ... We just talked it through and I think it helped you to realize there is help. There is support.”

Verbova agreed. She said it also helped to live with the three other Ukrainian students in one apartment, where they shared a common language and culture.

"I found my people. I found my true friends because I found the people who were from my country so we shared the same mentality," she said. "We shared the same interests.”

Verbova also said it was useful to be part of a community of international students from Spain, France, Germany and Taiwan, among other places.

"It was extremely engaging for me to communicate with them, to know their experiences," she said.

“I really grew personally through these two years," Verbova said. "I became more independent and more confident because I was living away from my parents.”

Verbova is going home to Ukraine for the summer before returning to the United States in the fall to take up a public health master's program at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She envisions a career involving health care and business.

Future of the Ukraine Initiative

While Verbova and Balan are graduating, one of the other two initial Ukrainian students, Genevia Gayden, will stay on for two more years. The fourth, Veronika Shchur, transferred after the first year to the University of Texas at Austin to be closer to family.

The Ukraine Initiative also included funding for a visiting teacher-scholar, Olena Kolupayeva, who taught communications and media studies courses.

Blackwell considers the initiative a success that he and others are working to continue.

"What we’d like to do is have more Ukrainians study here in the same way," he said. "It was based off of the generosity of the alumni, the generosity of the Central Florida community, across from DeLand, Orlando, Daytona Beach ... that we were able to raise the money to pay for this, and continue to pay for this."

Blackwell said being part of the Ukraine Initiative at Stetson has been "the best work I've done" for the last two years.

The exposure students get, not only to the Ukrainian students but some of the other international students who comprise about 8% of the DeLand campus enrollment, is a critical part of the Stetson experience, Blackwell said.

“People who go to Stetson, who graduate from Stetson are really going to be leaders wherever they are − in America, across the world − and so the relationships that we develop here, that the students develop amongst themselves," he said, "are huge for helping the world be a more peaceful and prosperous place.". 

Both Verbova and Balan will graduate Saturday morning at one of two ceremonies planned for the DeLand campus. The other is Friday evening.

Ukraine Initiative: Stetson University will host 4 displaced Ukrainian students, 1 faculty member next year

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Stetson University's Ukraine Initiative sends 2 to weekend graduation