A Ukrainian Newton North High School student is playing a key role in building a network of volunteers to help Ukrainian refugees learn English.
Andrey Sarkanich, a senior at Newton North High School, is the Head of Chapter Management of EDUkraine, a nonprofit that has been established recently to teach Ukrainian refugees English for free.
At least 2,000 Ukrainian refugees live in Massachusetts, where their lack of knowledge of the English language is barring them from valuable opportunities.
“It’s a sad situation that we are working to change,” said Sarkanich.
EDUkraine began in July of 2023 as a school club at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts. According to Jayden Yoon, a senior at St. Mark’s School and co-founder and president of EDUkraine, it was started by a small group of like-minded friends, all of whom came to discover the potential for EDUkraine’s services.
“As we worked with local nonprofit organizations to recruit students to pair with club members at my school, we realized that there was significant demand for our services. There were a lot of Ukrainian refugees in Massachusetts who needed to improve their English,” said Yoon.
Since then, EDUkraine’s reach has expanded to connect with refugees in more than 30 countries and more than 20 states. It regularly works with numerous nonprofits in both the United States and Ukraine – including Olga’s List, Earthlings Hub, and Ascentria Care Alliance. The nonprofits, says Yoon, are essential in connecting EDUkraine to the vast network of refugees who would like to build their English-speaking skills.
EDUkraine recruits volunteer English teachers from around the world, and when they are accepted into EDUkraine – most typically are – they commit to contributing a minimum of 30 minutes a week for 3 months for online lessons with their students. Although EDUkraine has a curriculum, the volunteers are given significant latitude regarding how…