Student Qualifications and Requirements
To qualify for a UCARE
scholarship, students must have been accepted to an institution of
higher learning in Ukraine (these include trade and technical schools,
professional institutions, and universities. They must also have spent at
least the two years prior to graduating in an internat, and to be a
true orphan.
All applicants also undergo a psychological
screening, in an attempt to ensure that the scholarship recipients are
psychologically equipped to deal with college and life outside of the
orphanage.
While they are in the program, they receive additional
counseling, from a psychologist and from former students. This includes
help in dealing with stress, and adapting to living independently. Many
of these students have spent years in institutions, and lack basic
skills such as cooking, budgeting, and even handling finances.
The
students, who go to schools all around the country, have three
mandatory meetings a year in Kyiv. They met with staff, who assess their
progress and try to discover what their individuals needs are, both
material and psychological. In the fall Peggy Lynch, the head of the
UCARE scholarship committee, travels to Ukraine to meet with the
students. She individually interviews each at least once during their
educational career, so as to better understand their needs, and thus to
better help them reach their goals.
Each UCARE
scholarship
recipient must also gain admission to a college or trade school. After
gaining admission, UCARE's scholarship recipients must stay in regular
contact with UCARE and "give back" to UCARE's mission to help other
Ukrainian orphans, by giving their time. Some visit our sick children in
hospital,
others work at summer camps,
and many
join our American volunteers on the Route.
They can often
be found at the Kyiv office, helping other students, or helping the
staff with paperwork, leg work or even heavy lifting and carrying.
In order to continue
to
receive a UCARE scholarship, each scholarship recipient must maintain
passing marks, meet three times a year at UCARE's office in Kyiv and
communicate with their sponsors.
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