UCC Regina Assisting With the 2009 Ivano-Frankivsk Program at the U of R

July 30, 2009 – The University of Regina is once again sponsoring the Canada-Ukraine Students Scientific Internship Program. To sustain the program, the University of Regina has approached the Ukrainian-Canadian community for financial support as well as help with billeting and the development of a social/cultural program. This year there will be five students from the Ivano-Frankivsk State University of Oil and Gas arriving in Regina in September. The UCC-Regina Branch is coordinating our community’s efforts with regards to this program.

These students are highly qualified and will be in Regina for approximately three months. This year, the students will be arriving September 11th;

1. Mykhailo Kyrylovych
2. Khrystyna Orobets
3. Sergii Kostyshyn
4. Nataliia Prytula
5. Pavlo Pantus

The merits of the program, for the community, are positive and worthy of support. Specifically the involvement of outstanding students from Ukraine in our community will help stimulate interest in Ukrainian matters amongst our youth in particular and the students will, to a certain degree, be role models for our youth.

UCC-Regina established a committee to work with the University of Regina on ‘inter-relationship with the Ukrainian Canadian community’ and finding families to billet/host the students. The members of the committee are Ken Mazur (789-4062), Ed Lysyk (789-6622) and Tony Harras (586-6805) who would be happy to answer any questions.

One of the main tasks of the Committee is to find families that are willing to host a student. Host families will receive from the University of Regina a receipt, suitable for income tax purposes, for $100 and a cheque for about $50 per week. The students will be in Regina for approximately 12 weeks, the approximate total cash payment will be $600 and the approximate tax receipt will be $1200.

Please note that families could still host a student even if they might be away for a week or two as long as the Committee can find another family to take the student in while they are away. The payments and receipts would obviously have to be split between the two families in proportion to the length of ‘hosting’ done by each family.

Hosting families will be required to:

• ensure that the student has a means to travelling to and from his/her place of employment. (The University supplies each student with a bus pass). This could mean that the hosts may just need to familiarize him/her with the bus routes. This year two students will work at SaskPower and three at the University of Regina.
• provide him/her with accommodations and board,
• work with the UCC-Regina on a ‘public participation’ program where the students will have an opportunity to participate in various community events during their stay in Regina,
• assist them with acquiring clothing suitable for Regina winters (the University will provide them with a spending allowance),
• ensuring that they have an opportunity to socialize with their colleagues from Ukraine and with the host,
• ensure that they receive medical attention should the occasion arise (they will have health insurance), and
• transportation to and from their place of worship as requested
• and if at all possible, provide the students with access to computers and the Internet.