Ukrainian Women in STEM

I am now 17 years old and lately, my life has been full of unexpected unpredictable events. Until 2022, everything in my life was stable and quite planned out. I spent the first 9 years of my life in a school with a profound study of foreign languages. Every year I participated and won prizes in competitions at various stages (school, city, regional, all-Ukrainian) in various subjects (Ukrainian language and literature, English, biology, geography, chemistry, ecology). For 7.5 years I went to the School of Arts, where I had regular training in ballroom dancing, also had lessons in solfeggio and piano. Then I got interested in biological sciences. That is why I passed the entrance examinations and entered the 10 class of Chernihiv Regional Scientific Lyceum on biology&chemistry profile. Being deeply interested in biology and chemistry, with the help of the professor I defended my first research work in the field of ecology for the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (JAS) and won a prize at the all-Ukrainian level. Then, one day, my life was divided into "before" and "after." In February 2022, my family and I decided to celebrate my birthday in Cyprus. We packed for a week of carefree vacations and flew backpacking. Who knew that we would have to stay there much longer than planned because of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Thus, my migrant story began. Together with my younger sister, we studied at schools in Cyprus. At the same time I continued my studies in the Ukrainian lyceum. I had to adapt to a new country with a different culture and language. At that time I also started to learn Greek. It was a period of total uncertainty. Before that, I had never had to deal with so many "adult" problems. By the way, it was there that I had to go to work for the first time. I also began to create a second research project in botanical comparisons and observations. In February 2023 we arrived in Michigan. The culture shock, the 8-hour time difference with Ukraine, the language barrier, the different laws and rules of life - all this and much, much more came upon us when we came. That time I had to combine my senior year at a Ukrainian school with my senior year at an American school. Combo! For a very long time, I just couldn't adjust to the new time zone. I ended up graduating from two schools at the same time: Chernihiv Regional Scientific Lyceum and Forest Park High School. I got a gold medal for 11 years of diligent study and a diploma with honors (GPA of 4.0) from the Lyceum and a 3.9 from Forest Park High School. Because of the difficulty in finding employment in Michigan, our family moved again, this time to Florida. Telling it is many times easier than actually living it. I can say with certainty that in this year and a half, which for me is already an eternity, it is as if I have matured a lot more. Nevertheless, it's hard not to say that it's a priceless experience that only helps me move forward. For several years now, every year I've grown stronger and stronger in my desire to help people. Events in the world prove to us that nothing is more important in life than health. Without it, no achievement or material accomplishment means anything. That's why I want to keep learning so that I can do what I want to do, which is to help people.

My name is Maiia Veremchuk. I am a daughter in a family with 9 children right now. My parents are people who discipline and care about us, therefore we have our family music band and each of us has a field of interest. My own are education, science, gospel and music. When the time came to choose the profession first I thought I would be a music teacher, but God turn my life in such a way, that I become a math teacher and I have no regret about it. 2019 is the year of graduation from my high school. I studied in Dubno lyceum #1, in class with a focus on mathematics and physics. We had 9 math in a week and 6 physics. I took 1 place in physics in my town and was 4th in the region. Therefore received mail from Tarasa Schevchenka about enrollment. While the physics faculty had no program with teacher preparation, I chose math education. My years at Trasa Shevchenko University were unique by the enhancement of my mathematical knowledge and my growth in all, as a person. I was one of the best students in the group, because give all my efforts and time to studying. In the middle of my 3rd year, while I took practice in the Schevchenko lyceum, the war started. It was the throated moment I ever had. I remember the morning 24th when the rocket explosion woke me up before the alarm clock at 5:00 am. My heart start to pain for a moment and I was paralyzed, I understand that I should move quickly but my body was put into shock. I was in my grandma's house, in Fastive, but the explosion was very strong. I understand, the war started. That evening my uncle drove me back home, to Dubno. My family can not hide in our small underground. 1 March 2022 we went at night to Europe. We left rapidly because did not plan to move. Our friends told us about force collected near the Belarussian border, therefore in 2 hours we make a decision and left. Through the border, we came to Europe when the local Baptist church let us live in its dormitory. We stay there for 2 months, actively helping for coming Ukrainians mainly with food preparation and also with spiritual encouragement and moral support. After this period we took 5 flights to get to the US through Mexico. It was a very exhausting journey. We haven`t slept enough and have small children. The last was 9 months. By the grace of God, we have reached the Mexico border and on night April 14th walked through it. Now starts our new life. We have a minimum staff because left Ukraine rapidly. Many people give us help with food. For 2 months we lived in Church. By the mercy of God, we have shelter and food. 3 oldest siblings work, and others - a study in schools. And I have a desire to complete my education as a math teacher. studying at the National University of Tarasa Shevchenka changed my life once and for all time. The more I know about math, the more I love it. And I want to become a certified teacher to be a blessing to those, who will be given to me as a student. I already enrolled in the university, but my tuition is not covered, therefore I did not choose my courses. This Scholarship is a chance for me to get my goal and become a certified teacher of math.

My name is Stephanie Ryazanova, I am 19 years old, and I am a 1st generation American citizen. The entirety of my family is from Ukraine, and only my parents immigrated to the United States 23 years ago. Every year, since the moment I was born, my parents and I would spend every summer in Ukraine with my family. Since my first time there, I loved traveling to Ukraine and would say it to be my first home, at heart. English was my third language, my first being Ukrainian and my second being Russian. It hurts to see what happens today, to the country I love and hold so dearly. To the current date, I have many friends and family members who decided to stay put and protect those in need of help, and they are known as heroes today. At the beginning of this tragedy, my grandmothers and young cousins (all between the ages of 8-16) who I see as my sisters were able to come to the United States and stay here for safety, while my uncles and cousins who I see as my older brothers stayed put to help the cause. My aunts came to the States to bring my grandmothers and cousins to my family here, and one of them even went back to stay with my uncle and help our elderly neighbors. Throughout all of this, my family and I have worked together to donate and contribute all that we can to those in need in Ukraine. Ukrainian people are strong and brave, and I want to be able to represent that here in the United States as best that I can. I want to show the world that Ukrainian people are stronghearted and proud. I have always been proud of my heritage, but with recent events, I want my heritage to shine through and speak thousands of words. Living through this time, I have realized I want to do so much more with my career for my family and people around the world. With that said, I never wanted one singular major to identify who I am and what my career ought to be rest of my life, so I went to choose 3 different ones. My major in school currently is Business and Technology where we choose what courses for business we take and the same goes for technology. My concentrations are marketing and computer science. At the same time, I am also minoring in Quantitative Finance. I love marketing and business entrepreneurship, but I shine through with computer science and coding. Technology is a powerful tool and I look forward to shaping this world using it. I want to be able to create ideas, companies, and products that would be useful for the environment and the people living in it. More specifically, I want to be able to make this world more secure and safe for those who cannot get that extra hand they need. I am more focused on creating a special type of program focused on safety and security. It hurts to hear the devastating news of men, women, and children who are either hurt or lost during this time. I want to see less of that, so I want to work towards making our world a safer and more convenient time for everyone, especially my loved ones and fellow Ukrainians. Life is short, so every day, I strive to make a difference, even if all that I can do at the moment is to keep my family happy and focused on the next day. Slava Ukraini!

Born in Boryslav, Ukraine in 2005, I spent the first 9 years of my life being raised by my single mother and grandmother, along with my aunt and her family. I am an IVF baby so I never had a "father" that I knew so in my eyes my grandma was my dad because that's what other kid's families looked like. I was put in a private elementary school in the park next to our apartment and I excelled in mathematics as well as every other subject I was introduced to. The education system was rigorous and I had a lot of homework but I loved every bit of it because I was doing something I loved and enjoyed which was working with numbers. In 2012 my mom married an American and suddenly I had a father figure in my home, soon enough I was told that I would be moving to America and leaving not only my family but all of my friends and the plans I made for myself for my future. Everything I thought I had was ripped away. In addition to us moving to the US for my mom's marriage, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine over Crimea was becoming tenser and I worried about my family back in Ukraine for years following the move because of everything I saw on the news. In Ukraine, I could communicate with any person I met with a common language and history, but in the US I didn't know enough English to communicate my needs and wants so my comfort place became numbers. During math class I didn't have to speak or write properly because the numbers were universal, except for the periods instead of commas for decimals but that was easy to adjust to. I focused my tears and sadness on learning more arithmetic and science because, unlike the English language, people could understand what I was trying to say with equations. I found I was drawn to robots and joined Robotics clubs throughout middle and high school and even enrolled in the Engineering Construction and Design academy at my high school to further pursue my new goal of becoming an engineer. Fascinated by math and now the fields of construction and engineering I decided to major in Mechanical Engineering and Construction Management. I am now using my past experiences and knowledge to give myself the best chance of success as a new adult not only for future graduate me, but also for the future me who wants to retire and not have to keep working at 75. With all of my family still in Ukraine every time me and my mom call them over Viber, Skype, or Messenger we hear the warning sirens. Not only is it a grim reminder that I am here while they have to constantly be reminded that they live in a war zone, but also that they are never really safe. I want to make sure I succeed so that they know that their efforts to raise me didn't go to waste and that I can make their names known to the world through my work and effort to make the world a better place.