WEST YARMOUTH — The demonstrations all over the world on Feb. 24, supporting Ukraine on the first anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion, had special meaning for Emily Stukalo, a sophomore at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.
She recalled being awakened by a friend early that morning at her home in Kyiv a year ago when the alarms alerted that Russian troops were headed there.
She was moved this past week by all the support for her country, she said in an interview Monday.
“We are really grateful for the help the U.S. has given us.”
She is also grateful to be on Cape Cod enjoying life as a normal 15-year-old after living through a tumultuous few months after the war started.
Emily and her parents, Oleksandr and Tamara, and her toy poodle, stayed only a week in Kyiv after the initial invasion before they decided to leave.
She recalled the three-day car trip in two cars with others traveling through Moldova and into Romania.
“It was kind of scary,” she said.
She told of the generosity of people along the way, offering food and free lodging.
“We appreciated it a lot,” she said.
When the family got to Romania, they decided to go to Israel where her 36-year-old half-brother and his family live and got an emergency flight, with their dog.
That journey was not the family’s first time evacuating. They lived in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine until 2014 when the Russians first took over that area and they fled to Kyiv. Emily’s grandparents still live there, but seem to be safe, she said.
Emily’s family stayed only two months in Israel as her parents needed to work, she said. Her father, an endoscopic surgeon, and her mother, a physical therapist, returned to Kyiv in May.
“The air raid sirens were not as often as before,” Emily said.
How did Emily end up on Cape Cod?
She spent a relatively normal summer with her friends, but then learned that she might have an opportunity to go to the United States as an exchange student.
Steve Albright of the Rotary Club of Yarmouth and inbound chairman of Rotary Youth Exchange District 7950 of southeastern Massachusetts, said Monday that early last year the possibility of getting four students from Ukraine had fallen through. He had heard about Emily through a woman in another Rotary district. Emily’s family had a friend in Rotary in Kyiv.
He quickly started the process to bring her here, which usually takes several months but was completed in five weeks. Emily got her passport in Kyiv, and had to go to Poland to get a visa because the U.S. Embassy was closed, then immediately flew to Boston.
Most exchange students have to pay for the travel expenses, but Steve and his wife, Jill, who chairs the Rotary district’s outbound exchanges, sent a letter to district members, who contributed all of Emily’s expenses.
She arrived in September to live with Jim and Victoria Kenny, her host family at their home in Yarmouth.
“They are an absolutely awesome family,” Jill Albright said.
Safe, but staying connected to family in Ukraine. Emily misses her parents, but they talk on the phone every day.
“They miss me a lot, but they know that I’m safe and don’t get too nervous,” she said.
She keeps up on the latest developments in her country and expressed anger at the Russians and sadness that so many Ukrainians are losing their lives. She pulled out her phone to show the Ukrainian coat of arms on her passport. “It means freedom,” she said.
She said she loves D-Y and is taking most of the same classes she would be taking as a sophomore in Kyiv. She is in honors trigonometry and German and also takes U.S. history and English. She made the honor roll twice, but was disappointed with only a B-plus in English to keep her from high honors. Her English is excellent — she has been learning it since age 4. She is also doing online courses with her Ukrainian teachers, who give her daily homework.
Emily is outgoing and has made many new friends at D-Y, which has two other Ukrainian students sponsored by the United for Ukraine program.
She has been playing sports at the school, including soccer and basketball, and plans to try out for lacrosse. She also skied in New Hampshire during winter break with the Albrights.
Jill Albright, the Rotary Club of Yarmouth District 7950 Outbound Chair, said part of the exchange program asks the students to speak at Rotary clubs. Emily said she wants to talk about Ukraine and thank people for their support, but she has to work up her courage to speak to groups.
Albright said she would like more people to know about the Rotary program, which supports 8,000 exchanges a year worldwide.
“Our goal is to have one (student) at every school in the area,” she said.
Steve Albright is also working on getting a two-year extension of Emily’s stay.
onate.
The Rotary Club of Yarmouth recently announced the latest Paul Harris fellow to honor Jack Bohlin, 11, of Yarmouth. Jack has been making bracelets since the pandemic first struck the Cape and has been selling them to raise funds in support of the Yarmouth Food Pantry, a project which the Rotary Club of Yarmouth began over 10 years ago. The Rotary Club of Yarmouth gave Jack a $250 donation to purchase supplies to make the bracelets and Jack sells the bracelets for $5 each. Thus far he has raised over $2,600! His original goal was $2,000, which has now been increased to $3,500. The bracelets are available at Barn & Co. in Dennis.
Rotary Club of Yarmouth Collects Over 600 Mobility Devices - Mobility Devices to Help Disabled in Africa
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