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International students Valentyna Yakymets and Daryna Slipenko will continue their journey from Ukraine to the United States this Friday as they walk across the stage at �ƹ���Ƶ’s (�ƹ���Ƶ CC) 57th annual Commencement. Both of them will graduate with Associate degrees that provide opportunities for them to transfer to a four-year university and complete their Bachelor’s degrees in the United States. 

“We were lucky and blessed to get through this process together,” said Slipenko.

Yakymets and Slipenko came to New Bern from Kiev, Ukraine and have been friends since high school. One the Russian-Ukraine war began, they both left the country to continue their studies and to seek safety. Yakymets was the only one from her family eligible to seek refuge, as war-fighting aged males are not allowed to leave the country. Slipenko’s family was able to leave, but they’re scattered across the globe in three different countries, including a brother attending school in Chicago. 

A New Bern family learned about Slipenko’s situation from her brother and immediately volunteered to be a host family. Soon after discovering that �ƹ���Ƶ CC is one of the few community colleges to offer programs for international students, the process for her to come to the United States was unusually quick, allowing her to move to New Bern right away and begin taking classes at �ƹ���Ƶ CC. Yakymets was able to join her 2 months later.

Slipenko lives with her host family in Newport and Yakymets lives with a different host family in Emerald Isle. �ƹ���Ƶ CC, which was the closest school for them both, became a safe haven for the native Ukrainian students over the course of their two-year studies. 

“Our whole life here has been connected to �ƹ���Ƶ,” said Yakymets. “But it’s our time to move forward and changes are important. We’re very grateful to �ƹ���Ƶ—it gave us our future lives.”

Slipenko added, “We’ve grown so much here—educationally, grown as a person, and grown with relationships around the campus which will help us in the future.”

Slipenko and Yakymets will graduate with their Liberal Arts associate degrees May 10, at 9 a.m. While these degrees are transferable to one of North Carolina’s 16 public universities, their immediate plans are uncertain at the moment. 

For more information on the International Student program at �ƹ���Ƶ CC, visit /applying-craven/how-apply/international-students.