[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 167 (Thursday, November 21, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      IN HONOR OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF CLEVELAND'S RIDNA SHKOLA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2013

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, Ukrainians have been coming to the United 
States since the Industrial Revolution when immigrants came to cities 
like Cleveland for jobs. Here they established communities with their 
own churches, businesses and social clubs. Many also felt the need to 
perpetuate the language and culture of their ancestral home. And so, 
starting in the first decade of the 20th Century, the first Ukrainian 
Heritage Schools were born.
  The current Heritage School, ``Ridna Shkola,'' whose 60th anniversary 
we celebrate this year, was founded in 1953 by immigrants who found 
refuge in America after they had been driven from their homeland by the 
devastation of the Second World War and the repressive policies of Nazi 
Germany and the Soviet Union. Because they had been active in cultural 
institutions in their Homeland, the Soviets who conquered Western 
Ukraine in 1939 targeted them for execution or deportation to Siberian 
labor camps. Also targeted were the ``Ostarbeiters,'' Ukrainians forced 
to work as slaves in the Nazi economy. Stalin saw them as tainted by 
Western influences and after the war assigned them to a similar fate.
  Those who could fled--first to the Displaced Persons Camps of post-
war Austria and Germany and ultimately to a new life in Cleveland and 
other cities in the U.S. and Canada. The bitter circumstances of their 
immigration reinforced the refugees' determination to perpetuate their 
identity and culture.
  There is no exact English correlative for the term ``Ridna Shkola.'' 
Roughly it means, ``Our own native school'' and already in 1950, 
informal classes began at Cleveland's Ukrainian National Home in 
Tremont.
  In the fall of 1953, educators and leaders formally established the 
``Ridna Shkola'' Association led by Ivan Fur, a grocer whose real 
vocation was the Ukrainian community. In January 1954, ``Ridna Shkola'' 
was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of Ohio and 
joined the Educational Council of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of 
America (UCCA) which to this day coordinates a nationwide network of 
Ukrainian Heritage Schools. The first director of Cleveland's ``Ridna 
Shkola'' was the distinguished scholar, Volodymyr Radzykevych, author 
of the three-volume ``History of Ukrainian Literature'' and several 
children's books. For many years, Professor Radzykevych was the 
librarian at the Ukrainian section of the Jefferson Branch of the 
Cleveland Public Library.
  Once it was established, ``Ridna Shkola'' met every Saturday during 
the school year at Tremont Elementary School before moving to Merrick 
House a few blocks away. Enrollment grew from 95 students in 1954 to 
307 in 1963. That's when the school moved to Parma, following the 
demographic trends of the Ukrainian-American community to the suburbs. 
Since then, several thousand Ukrainian-American students have attended 
``Ridna Shkola'' with more than a thousand completing the rigorous 
``Matura'' which tests students' knowledge of Ukrainian language, 
history, literature, geography and culture.
  From the very beginning ``Ridna Shkola'' was distinguished by a 
highly-qualified faculty: Hryhoriy Golembiowsky, Mykhaylyna Stavnycha, 
Olena and Marian Dub, Mykhailo Zhdan, Yaroslava Pichurko, Myroslava 
Mychkovska, to name a few. There have been scores of others over the 
past 60 years--all deserve mention, but they are too many to list. 
Directors (principals) included Vasyl Ivanchuk, Stepan Wolanyk, 
Viroslav Kost, Petro Twardowsky and George Jaskiw. Today, the majority 
of teachers and students at Ridna Shkola are from the most recent 
Fourth Wave of immigrants to the U.S.
  Critical to its operation are the administrators, people who make 
sure children have books, collect tuition, pay faculty and resolve a 
thousand details. For many years, Lida Parc in Cleveland fulfilled this 
role, insuring a smooth operation. The school also depends on a solid 
corps of volunteers and, of course, parents who wake their children 
every Saturday morning and drive them to school.
  The school is supported by the Ridna Shkola Society, a group of 
parents and other supporters who raise money, take care of 
administrative tasks and organize events associated with the school 
year--weekly classes, graduation exercises, annual celebrations. Today, 
Chrystine Klek heads the Society, following such dedicated leaders as 
Kost Melnyk, Vasyl Ilchyshyn, Evhen Nebesh, Evhen Palka, Bohdan Milan, 
Luba Mudriy and George Jaskiw.
  It is impossible to assess the importance of Ridna Shkola. Many a 
college application and professional resume lists Ridna Shkola and the 
``Matura.'' Untold numbers of Ridna Shkola graduates have gone on to 
careers in journalism, politics, government, medicine, law, business, 
media, diplomacy, etc. where they applied their knowledge of Ukrainian, 
as well as the lessons and skills they acquired in ``Ridna Shkola'' 
something their parents forced on them and they unwillingly accepted, 
only to later acknowledge how beneficial it all was. And now a quarter 
century after Ukraine's independence, it's clear the huge difference 
Ridna Shkola made not only in the lives of its graduates, in the 
Ukrainian-American community but also the positive impact on the 
country their parents and grandparents left under such bitter 
circumstances.
  Best wishes to Ridna Shkola on its 60th Anniversary and all the best 
in the years to come!

                          ____________________