Hopkins Seeks Host Families to Welcome Sister City Youth

Hopkins is seeking families to host 18 students and two adult chaperones from its Ukrainian during their visit here Sept. 15 through Oct. 13.

The Ukraine/Minnesota Civic Leadership Engagement Program for Youth brings young civic leaders together to learn from one another. Boryspil students learn about community engagement in Minnesota, and the American students learn about “challenges faced in an emerging democracy,” according to a description of the program.

The students will attend local schools, participate in civic leadership development activities and share their perspectives, hopes and challenges with the Minnesota youth.

(Click on the PDFs to the right of this article for full details.)

Organizers are looking for 20 families willing to provide a bed and daily meals and share their lives with the students. Host families will preferably have a student of a similar age and/or live in the Hopkins School District, but other arrangements can be made.

For families who live in the Hopkins school district, the students may use district transportation to get to school. Those who don’t will have to take the student to school.

All the students speak English. They have health insurance and their own spending money. The adult chaperones will serve as the students’ legal guardians and have complete legal responsibility.

Those who are interested in hosting one of the visitors should contact Natalia Krasnobayeva at nataliakrasnobayeva@gmail.com. Please include your name, contact information and how many students (one or two) you would like to host.

There will also be opportunities later on for those who want to support the program in other ways, such as by helping with transportation to activities outside of school and providing other logistical support. If you’re interested, contact Krasnobayeva at the above address.

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Who’s visiting?

• Dmytro Deineko, a 16 year old male
  • Interests: Basketball, Art and Music (plays guitar)
• Tetyana Bugaychuk, a 14 year old female
  • Interests: Music, Dance, Literature (sings)
• Dmytro  Futornyy , a 16 year old male
  • Interests: Computers, Taekwondo, Music (plays guitar)
• Igor Onyshchenko, a 14 year old male
  • Interests: Sports – Boxing and Swimming
• Artem  Oliynyk , a 14 year old male
  • Interests: Math and Science, Sports – soccer, basketball
• Arina Pyechka, a 14 year old female
  • Interests: Visual Art, Sports
• Vita Grygorenko, a 15 year old female
  • Interests: Literature
• Lyubov Godovanyuk, a 16 year old female
  • Interests: Photography, Music, Languages (French, Japanese)
• Nadiya Nesterenko, a 14 year old female
  • Interests: Music, Dance
• Iryna Patrykats, a 17 year old female
  • Interests: Literature, Music, Dance
• Yuliya Linkevych, a 15 year old female
  • Interests: Sports – basketball, track and field
• Viktoriya Koval, a 16 year old female
  • Interests: Vocals (sings)
• Artur Sarkisyan, a 17 year old male
  • Interests: Technology, Travel
• Anastasiya Nesteryak , a 13 year old female
  • Interests: Visual Art, Music, Dance
• Daryna  Polishchuk, a 14 year old female
  • Interests: Dance, Sports, Journalism
• Dariya Korniychuk , a 13 year old female
  • Interests: Horses, Psychology
• Iryna Moroz, a 13 year old female
  • Interests: Crafts and Arts, Theatre, Dance