OPEN welcomes new exchange student to community

Oksana Kovalenko

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With the fall term already started in Newton Community Schools, OPEN, Newton’s sister city organization, is delighted to welcome to our community and county Oksana Kovalenko, a Ukrainian student from Smila, for the 2008-2009 school year. Oksana is already here and enjoying her host family, Bob and Cindy Campbell and their daughter Sally, who is a junior. Oksana is enrolled as a sophomore at Newton High. Oksana was born on March 30, 1993 in the city of Boguslav, her mother’s home town, which is approximately the same size as Newton and located in Kyyiv Region, located about three hours northwest of Smila by car.  Her parents are Oleg and Inna (pronounced “EE-nuh”) Kovalenko, and they live in an apartment complex on the main thoroughfare through Smila.  Oleg, who is a native of Smila, is 44 years old and teaches mathematics at a Technical College in Smila. Inna, 39, is employed as an economist at Oshadbank in Smila. Oksana is their only child. The family speaks Ukrainian at home, but Oksana has been studying the English and Russian languages for eight years. Coming to Iowa is the first time Oksana has traveled outside of Ukraine. Oksana attends the Lyceum of Mathematics and Sciences, where she continues to study English under the guidance of Tatyana Yevgeniyevna Yarmysh, who has visited Newton and taught at NHS a few years ago in conjunction with Andrea Hoagland. Her principal is Sofiya Gnida, whose daughter Anya was also an OPEN-sponsored student at NHS. Oksana is passionate about dance, and has studied hip-hop for nine years with Maksym Selivanov after school.  Selivanov has organized a local club called “Storm,” and the team members prepare ensemble programs for public performance and compete against other dance teams from the district and region. Her other interests include camping and hiking in the mountains, riding her bicycle, cooking and working on the computer. She has taken piano lessons in the past. She believes that physical and mental activities help make a person well-rounded. She has done volunteer work in the summer helping coordinate and execute activities for children.  At NHS, Oksana is taking courses in English, history, algebra, French and photojournalism, and already has joined the swim team. Her best friend so far is a foreign exchange student from Brazil named Luana Malega. Oksana hopes to pursue a career in fashion design after completing her education, and to eventually open her own studio.