‘Pro-democracy’ scholarship award goes to Capital University student
A new scholarship program for Ukrainian college students to study at U.S. colleges has announced 20 grantees across the country, including one at Capital University in Bexley.
Daryna Zaitseva, the Capital University scholar, is in her fourth year of pre-dentistry studies. Over the past 10 months, she has seen her home in Mariupol, Ukraine, destroyed and her family divided across continents.
She has been selected for the Global Democracy Ambassador Scholarship, which is chaired by celebrity Spanish chef José Andrés, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky, and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
The initiative will provide tuition assistance and living stipends to 20 students, 10 who, like Zaitseva, already were studying in the U.S. and 10 who will come to the U.S. after receiving the scholarship. It also will “empower Ukrainian youth to be campus ambassadors for democratic values,” according to a statement from the Lubetzky Family Foundation.
Previous coverage:Russian invasion of Ukraine leaves Columbus-area student fearful for family’s safety
Zaitseva, 21, who began her studies at Capital in 2019, told The Dispatch she previously was unsure how to pay for the remainder of her studies after her father — who works at a steel plant in Ukraine — saw his salary decrease by two-thirds after the Russian invasion.
She said she is grateful for the scholarship and excited to further engage with her peers on democracy.
“When it comes to democracy and different values, how blessed we are (here in the U.S.) to have the ability to express our emotions and our feelings without being afraid of being persecuted for what we say,” she said.
Nearly 8 million Ukrainian refugees have fled across Europe since Russia’s invasion in February, according to the United Nations. The U.S. has welcomed about 82,000 Ukrainians into the country under Uniting for Ukraine, a program that matches humanitarian parolees with citizens and permanent residents to provide housing and support.
The new scholarship program’s chairs all come from immigrant or asylum-seeker backgrounds, according to Michael Johnston, president of the Lubetzky Family Foundation.
Kasparov, a former world chess champion, became a political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin before fleeing Russia about a decade ago. Lubetzky is the son of a Holocaust survivor. Vindman, who was born in Ukraine, is a former National Security Council member who testified against President Donald Trump during the first congressional impeachment inquiry. Andrés has supported food relief efforts inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries through his nonprofit World Central Kitchen.
The four co-chairs provided seed funding to launch the initiative in September.
The Institute of International Education, which assists several leading international scholarship programs, including the Fulbright program, helped the program select 20 scholars from among 350 applicants based on need, academic record and motivation to promote democratic values.
Before Zaitseva began her studies at Capital, she used to help her mother collect donations for Ukrainian troops back home in Mariupol. After Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, soldiers were stationed nearby in the Donbas region to battle Russian-backed separatists.
More:Life still uncertain for Ukrainians who resettled in Columbus area after Russian invasion
“Every Thursday, (my mom) would pack up her Ford Focus till you couldn’t even see out of the back window, (full of) thermal underwear, socks, hot thermal cups, snacks, cookies,” before delivering them to the front lines, Zaitseva said.
When Russia launched its Ukraine invasion in February this year, her family’s apartment was destroyed by Russian shelling. Zaitseva’s mother, brother and grandparents fled to Germany and eventually made their way to the U.S.
Ukrainian rules prevent most adult men from emigrating, and her father remains in the city of Kryvyi Rih, where he works at a steel plant that has come under Russian fire.
On campus, Zaitseva said, she has helped organize donation drives, including an April bake sale for Ukrainian orphans and an ongoing fundraiser for hygiene kits and USB power banks to send to the front lines.
Her friends say Zaitseva has shaped the way they see the war in Ukraine.
“I knew she was one tough cookie. But for her to lose her home, have to go to class … and then just spring into action, it’s just inspiring,” said Christina Mickelson, a fourth-year pre-optometry student at Capital who is from Columbus’ Far East Side.
“To have a super close friend who is directly suffering the effects of this war … it just made it so much more real to me,” said Julian Tugaoen, another fourth-year pre-med student.
Zaitseva said she applied to the Global Democracy Ambassador scholarship in part because its mission appealed to her.
“I think the one thing that totally drew me to this specific scholarship … was I would be able to centralize my efforts into talking about democracy,” she said.
As a recipient of the scholarship, Zaitseva will take part in special programming during the holiday break aimed at equipping students with resources for organizing pro-democracy events on campus. Through Kasparov’s nonprofit Renew Democracy Initiative, she will be able to speak with leaders like Cambodian democracy activist Mu Sochua and Sunny Cheung, a leader in the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests.
She said she is excited for the opportunity.
“I talk to my friends all the freaking time about democratic values outside of class,” she said. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know 100% that even being from 10,000 miles away, I’ll find a way to help Ukraine.”
Peter Gill covers immigration and new American communities for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America here:bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
Read More: ‘Pro-democracy’ scholarship award goes to Capital University student