Ukraine’s unlikely allies

BY NICHOLAS LAWRENCE Staff Reporter

At the Lysychansk Gymnasium in Luhansk, Ukraine, life continues as normal. Rated one of the best educational institutions in Ukraine, the school has survived multiple world wars, a Russian invasion in 2014, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Much like Sequoia, children study for exams, hang out with their friends, and bike home to school.

Just one month later, this all changed.

Despite the war starting in 2014, February 2022 saw the intensification of hostilities. Across the Ukraine-Russia border, towns, subways, villages, and schools just like Lyschychansk are destroyed, and people with it.

Unlike Lysychansk, Sequoia mainly continues as normal. The only manifestation of the war in Ukraine for most Sequoia students was the newfound display of Ukrainian flags across campus, and Ukrainian flag profile pictures on Instagram.

However, in Ukraine the reality is entirely different. Due to the magnitude of the conflict and its impacts, the importance of charity and service has always been of utmost importance.

The Key Club is a local chapter of the international Kiwanis Key Club organization, that seeks to engage in service projects across the world. In response to the war in Ukraine, there have been many fundraising projects in Key Clubs across the United States.

“At the Sequoia Key Club, we do a lot of service activities to provide opportunities for our members to help others,” Brian Khov, the president of the Key Club, said.

However, there has been a curious lack of Ukraine charity services by the Key Club.

“In our club, we mostly focus on local issues that concern our local community,” Khov said.

This unique emphasis on specifically local issues differentiates the Sequoia Key Club from other clubs. It is no secret that Sequoia itself has many opportunities for growth and development, and the Key Club wishes to focus its efforts on where they are best seen.

However, there have been other organizations included too. Other, more grassroots organizations, even at Sequoia have done more for Ukraine. Many organizations, like one started by Ella Satterwhite and Sahana Stanger, have unique, more personal connections to the Ukrainian war and community.

“I’m Ukrainian and I just wanted to just do something. You know, I was thinking about, should we do a student walkout? But I didn’t know how effective that would be. So I think I just ended up being like, “I’ll do a bake sale, just a traditional way to raise money.”

Ella Saterwhite, a founder of the Sequoia Ukrainian war charity group, said.

Sequoia Opinions and Reactions

Through donating money to specific charities within the Ukrainian conflict, the group avoided many of the pitfalls that other charities fall to.

“We ended up donating most of the money to the Children’s Fund, and it was a huge success. We even contacted Dunkin

Donuts for our bake sale and they gave us free donuts,” Satterwhite said.

The practicality of the bake sale contributed to its impact, as Satterwhite and classmate Sahana Stanger made almost $500 in donations.

However, even though there has been less done than one would initially expect, the rationale remains sound. Throughout Sequoia, thousands of different communities exist. While many eyes may be focused on Ukraine, especially during the initial invasion last year, there still is a lot to be done, both in our local communities and in Ukraine.

By MINOU ONO Staff Reporter

Student impact

“The first week, I was constantly looking at CNN,” Ukrainian freshman Genna Pravdin said. The first week was February 24, 2022. It is now the first anniversary of the RussoUkrainian war, leaving students of Russian and devastating,” junior Ella Satterwhite, who has family in Ukraine, said.

Ukrainian flags on houses, businesses and cars are seen throughout the peninsula. This open support can weigh heavily on Russian students when the blame for the war is unfairly placed on

“A lot of people tend to blame Russians for the war. A lot of Russians that are living outside of Russia are fully against the war, the ones in Russia, most of them are for it… It’s hard to blame the Russians outside,” Russian junior Nikita Grinkin said.

According to the website which specializes in statistics, as of Jan 2023, around 75 percent of Russians supported the war. having to fight on the frontlines, still having to leave their country and homes,” Satterwhite said.

“My uncle, who lives in Russia, is for [the war]. From what I’ve talked to him about, it’s because of the propaganda there. All they hear is that Russia is correct,” Grinkin said.

Learning in class is a good way for students to learn about the war and other current events.

“I think teachers are making a big mistake if it’s not worked into the curriculum[…] especially in history classes,” History teacher Dylan Shelley said.

“The war is not talked about in any of my classes at all when maybe it should be because it is a current event,” Pravdin said.

Students might have questions that teachers can answer about what is happening and what will happen.

“I think the school should be talking about more of the reasons why this war started in the first place and what can be some of the impacts, so people are more prepared as to what happens after this. A lot of ‘what ifs’ are arousing. ‘What if Russia does invade Ukraine? What do they do after?’ and all of these [other questions], so I think that should be [talked about],” Grinkin said.

Significance of First Anniversary

Many people did not expect the war to last this long when it started. Many thought it would end quickly, but people soon realized that would not happen.

“I thought it’d be over in a few days,” freshman Pravdin said.

Once people realized that the war would not finish as quickly as they had thought, they feared awareness Awareness and education about the war , even as it approaches its second year is crucial to understanding the propaganda in Russia and the circumstances that people from both countries are in.

War

“It’s very important that people are aware that this is still an issue because it’s definitely died down, but it’s still as much a problem as it was the first day it happened. There are plenty of people that are still suffering, that are still