Help Kseniia Stay at the University of Arizona

16-year-old Kseniia Pankova is a young Ukrainian refugee currently enrolled at the University of Arizona as a freshman. Her parents both lost their jobs and livelihoods due to the war.

The Southern Arizona Ukrainian Care Network and Northwest Community Friends Church are sponsoring a fundraiser to help Kseniia. We need to raise $23,000 (UPDATE 1/8/23: We raised $23,000 and need to raise a total of $46,000). Will you help supplement the lost financial support to Kseniia as a result of her parents losing their jobs and livelihoods due to the war?

Born and raised in Odesa, Ukraine, Kseniia is a trained pianist and skilled athlete, ranking among the top three high jumpers in Ukraine for her age category before being forced to flee to Germany. She graduated from high school early with a 4.0 GPA equivalent and currently has A’s in her college classes while pursuing a BS in Psychological Science. She is pending NCAA eligibility to do developmental training with the U of A high jump coach.

At the start of the Russian invasion, Kseniia and her family lived through ten days of intensive bombing. She saw bombs being dropped from planes all around her. Odesa became a target for the Russian navy, with many ships gathering off the city's coast. A storm–and then naval mines placed by the Ukrainian navy–kept the Russian ships from approaching. Kseniia and her mother fled to Germany, where she remained from March 2022 until arriving in Tucson in August 2022.

Kseniia has dreamed since age 14 of attending a university in the United States, and the U of A became a school of choice because of its highly ranked track team and psychology department. She worked hard to learn English and graduate from high school a year early, and she applied to several universities in the US. However, she was unable to take the SAT due to the war, and her full high school transcripts were not available in time for some deadlines. The U of A agreed to work with her, and they admitted her with the maximum scholarship for an international student due to her excellent grades.

Uncertainty has overhung Kseniia’s past nine months as a refugee and underage college student. Her mother returned to Odesa in July 2022 to sell her car to have enough money to support her temporarily, but Kseniia needs help to supplement the lost financial support from her parents losing their jobs and livelihoods due to the war. Kseniia did not know until August 2022 that she would have somewhere to live in Tucson. She did not know how she would support herself with her parents losing their jobs until learning in late November 2022 that the College of Science was giving her a one-time additional scholarship.

Kseniia’s age has made obtaining employment difficult. Although she secured a student job for the spring, her income will not come close to supplementing the financial support she no longer has from her parents, and she has not applied for private student loans given her family's uncertain future. Her mother was formerly a music teacher and sushi franchise owner in Odesa; now a refugee in Canada, she has found only limited temporary work. Her father was an engineer on an oil ship but lost his job due to sanctions on the Russian-owned business; he has been unable to find new employment and is also pending refugee status in Canada.

Northwest Community Friends Church has created a designated giving account for those who would like to contribute to Kseniia. Contributions will be used to replace the financial support Kseniia would receive from her parents had they not lost their jobs and livelihoods due to the war. Any donations received beyond the current fundraising goal will be given to a not-for-profit organization supporting Ukrainian students in the US facing financial hardships.

Please help Kseniia as you are able, whether by donating or sharing the link for this fundraiser.

Thank you for helping this deserving young student have a more certain future!