An advocate for Ukraine in Washington and a future trauma counselor for those the war has wounded receive this year’s awards.
We are proud to announce the recipients of its 2026 academic scholarships.
Taras Sarazhynskyy, a senior at American University, has been awarded the $3,000 UNWLA Eva Staszkiw Memorial Scholarship.
Valeriia Svystula, a graduate student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Pennsylvania Western University, has been awarded the $4,000 Vovk Foundation/UNWLA Scholarship.
Vovk Foundation/UNWLA Scholarship: Valeriia Svystula
Valeriia Svystula is a Ukrainian national and a graduate student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Pennsylvania Western University, residing in Alexandria, Virginia. Before moving to the United States, she earned two bachelor’s degrees in philology, from Kyiv National Linguistic University and the Higher Linguistic School of Częstochowa. In 2022, she taught English as a second language to Ukrainian refugees arriving in Warsaw.
Alongside her graduate studies, Valeriia is training in Gestalt therapy at Kyiv Gestalt University. She intends to specialize in trauma, working with displaced Ukrainians, families of soldiers, and survivors of the war. For Valeriia, rebuilding Ukraine goes far beyond infrastructure.
“Ukraine’s recovery will be measured in bridges, but sustained by whether its people can heal enough to live, work, and raise the next generation.”
– Valeriia wrote in her application
UNWLA Eva Staszkiw Memorial Scholarship: Taras Sarazhynskyy
Taras Sarazhynskyy is a proud first-generation Ukrainian American entering his final year at American University in Washington, D.C., where he studies International Studies. Raised in Minnesota’s Ukrainian-American community, Taras became deeply involved in advocacy for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Since then, he has served as Youth Engagement Lead for Stand With Ukraine MN, supporting humanitarian efforts and grassroots fundraising. He is currently President of SUSTA, the Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations of America, which unites and empowers Ukrainian students nationwide, and President of Students Supporting Ukraine at American University, where he builds student awareness and advocacy for Ukraine in the nation’s capital. His leadership spans volunteer organizing, fundraising, advocacy, and community outreach.
Taras plans to pursue a career in law, international relations, and public service, with a focus on advocacy and on strengthening the understanding that Ukraine’s security and interests are deeply connected to America’s. His path reflects the hope of the scholarship’s namesake, who often said: “We need young educated people able to share the truth about Ukraine everywhere.”
The UNWLA Eva Staszkiw Memorial Scholarship honors Eva Staszkiw, who immigrated to the United States in 1910 and became a devoted member of UNWLA Branch 26 in Detroit and later Branch 17 in Miami. A lifelong advocate for education, she supported the UNWLA Scholarship Fund beginning in the late 1950s and bequeathed her life savings to the UNWLA to expand support for Ukrainian studies. The scholarship awards $3,000 annually to a student at a U.S. college or university taking coursework related to Ukraine.
The Vovk Foundation/UNWLA Scholarship is a permanently endowed scholarship created by the Vovk Foundation in partnership with the UNWLA. The Foundation honors the memory of Ivan Vovchuk, a noted scholar, writer, and community leader, and his son Andrew, an accomplished engineer and technologist. The scholarship awards $4,000 annually to a student of Ukrainian descent in fields including engineering, the sciences, medicine, law, business, and the arts.
