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Our Life | Наше життя February | Лютий 2021 20 Nadia Nynka UNWLA 3rd Vice President Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Roma Hadzewycz, member of Branch 75 in Morris County, NJ, who on December 1, 2020, retired after a 43-year career culminating as Editor-in- Chief of the newspapers Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly . Roma was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, in a patriotic Ukrainian family. Her father, Walter (Wolodymyr) Sochan, was a long-time executive officer of the Ukrainian National Association (UNA), and her mother, Neonila Sochan, was an active member of the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization and founder of the very popular Tabir Ptashat, a week-long summer day camp at Soyuzivka for children between the ages of 4 and 6. “The UNA and Plast,” Roma said, “were, and still are, the two main influences on my life and certainly influenced my decisions and career path later in life.” She held leadership roles and remains active in both organizations. Over her long career, Roma has received numerous awards. The UNWLA was one of the first organizations to present Roma with an award – the Extraordinary Professional Achievement Award, which was presented to her and a number of other young women at the UNWLA Convention in 1984. In 2013, she received the Ukrainian of the Year Award from the Ukrainian Technological Society of Pittsburgh, a professionals’ organization. In 2015, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olha by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and in 2016 she received the Shevchenko Freedom Award presented by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. There were other awards from Ukrainian organizations, such as Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, The Washington Group, the Children of Chornobyl Foundation, and the Ukrainian American Veterans, as well as Ukraine’s diplomats here in the United States and Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What follows is an abridged and edited account of my conversation with Roma. An Interview with An Interview with Where did you attend school, and what was it like growing up in Jersey City? I attended Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic School, Ridna Shkola, and St. Dominic Academy, all in Jersey City. So, through high school all my education was in a Catho - lic environment. I went on to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from New York University – the un - dergrad degree in journalism and psychology, and the graduate degree in journalism. What was great about growing up in Jersey City was that it was an especially wonderfully tight-knit commu - nity where everyone got along – Plast, SUM [Ukrainian American Youth Association], dance groups, etc. I really need to praise the leaders of that community because there were no petty quarrels – all the groups got along very well and worked together for the good of the com - munity. What interested you in journalism? Besides being an executive officer with the UNA, my father was also a sports editor for Svoboda for a time and a freelance correspondent for Voice of America who filed feature stories about the Ukrainian American com - munity. So that’s the journalism bug right there. That no doubt had something to do with my direction. Also, I took a journalism course as an elective in high school, and I really enjoyed it. In college, although I didn’t de - clare a major right away, I did start taking journalism classes right from the beginning. Ultimately, I completed a double major in journalism and psychology. Roma Hadzewycz Roma Hadzewycz
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