DELAND, Fla. — Over the past three years Stetson University in DeLand has stepped up to help some Ukrainians impacted by the war.

Through the Stetson Ukraine Initiative, the university raised funds to support four undergraduate students and one faculty member from Ukraine.   

That faculty member is Olena Kolupayeva, who has been at Stetson University since 2022.

Her family is still in Ukraine, and she says they're handling the daily challenges the war brings the best way they can.

Assistant Professor at Stetson University, Olena Kolupayeva. (Spectrum News/Devin Martin)

“I have seen how Ukrainian people are strong and resilient and we have never been so united,” Kolupayeva said.

She started as a visiting teacher scholar for the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence and is now an assistant professor practicing journalism, educating students in topics such as “media and human rights” and “media literacy.”

“I feel it’s important to educate people on how to recognize propaganda, bias, and misinformation,” Kolupayeva said. 

Meantime, Genevia Gayden is an undergraduate taking part in the Stetson Ukraine Initiative.

Like Kolupayeva, she’s grateful she found a home away from home.

“Many Ukrainian people including me perhaps did not want to plan their life the way it turns out,” Gayden said.

She wants to become a political science teacher; that’s the track she’s on now. 

“It’s not something I’ve joyfully achieved in this sense, so to say it comes with a weight,” Gayden said. 

Gayden’s family remains in Ukraine, but she knows she’s making her family proud. 

“Life is turned upside down. This is loss, still within that gratitude,” Gayden said.

Genevia Gayden is a Ukrainian student at Stetson University. She remains dedicated on her goal, getting a degree, and becoming a teacher. (Spectrum News/Devin Martin)

At the end of the day, even though Kolupayeva and Gayden are separated from their loved ones, they found a sense of community, not only at Stetson, but with each other.

“I see my role here as an educator, that’s primarily who I am. But also, as someone who is trying to make bridges between Ukraine and the global society,” Kolupayeva said. 

Since the Stetson Ukraine Initiative started in 2022, two of the four Ukrainian students graduated with degrees from Stetson. 

Both were offered fully funded scholarships for graduate school. 

One other student transferred to another university for family reasons.

A university spokesperson says they are looking for ways to support other Ukrainians in the future.