The All-American Teachers’ Conference took place in Stamford, Connecticut, bringing together representatives of Ukrainian schools from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Participants discussed preserving the Ukrainian language and culture abroad, modern educational approaches, and curricula. A separate event was a meeting with two Ukrainian service members who had come to the United States for prosthetics and rehabilitation.
The All-American Teachers’ Conference, organized by the Ukrainian School Council of the USA, was held in Stamford, Connecticut. It brought together principals, teachers, and representatives of Ukrainian studies schools from various U.S. states, as well as educators from Canada and the United Kingdom.
Participants included representatives of Ukrainian schools in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Ohio. Colleagues from Kyiv, Toronto, and Manchester also joined the conference. Educators from Lviv and Khust participated online.
The main topics of the meeting included fostering Ukrainian identity among children in the diaspora, modern teaching methods, updating curricula, and using original textbooks in Ukrainian studies schools.
Participants presented their work, discussed educational challenges and achievements, and shared their experience in organizing the learning process. In particular, representatives of the Vasyl Stus Ukrainian Studies School in Chicago said they had learned about new approaches and ideas at the conference that they planned to share with their teachers and students.
Ukrainian Schools’ Experience and the “Unity Embroidered Towel”
The conference was attended by Halyna Titovych, principal of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Studies School in Washington, D.C. Sofiya Kachur, a culture teacher at the school, presented a report titled “How We Foster Ukrainian Identity in Culture Classes,” sharing her experience working with children of the Ukrainian diaspora.
Another event was the handover of the “Unity Embroidered Towel,” a project launched by Sofiya Kachur. Students in grades 6–9 at the Washington school were the first to contribute to its creation.
During the conference, Halyna Chechet handed the embroidered towel and a special notebook to Myroslava Rozdolska, principal of the Nova Khvylka School in New York. According to the organizers’ concept, each subsequent Ukrainian school will add its own embroidered element to the towel and record the school’s name and the names of the students who took part in the project in the notebook.
The project is intended to unite Ukrainian schools in different countries through a shared creative initiative.
Conference Participants Meet Wounded Ukrainian Service Members
One of the most important events of the conference was a meeting with two Ukrainian defenders, Serhii Rohoman and Volodymyr Balbekin. The service members had traveled to the United States for prosthetics and rehabilitation. The educational community welcomed them with words of gratitude and support.
Volodymyr Balbekin was born on October 17, 1992, in Kropyvnytskyi. He has a three-year-old son. On February 26, 2025, he was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He initially served in the 158th Brigade with the rank of junior sergeant and, from the beginning of 2025, in the 71st Brigade.
On July 8, 2025, while carrying out a combat mission in the Sumy region, Volodymyr sustained severe injuries that resulted in the loss of both legs above the knee.
Serhii Rohoman was born on February 17, 1987, in Kyiv. He is married and has a young son with his wife. He served in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. While evacuating wounded fellow soldiers in the Donetsk region, Serhii stepped on a landmine. The explosion caused severe injuries that also resulted in the loss of both legs above the knee.
The service members are currently undergoing prosthetic fitting and rehabilitation with the support of the charitable organization Protez Foundation. They face a lengthy process of recovery, learning to use their prostheses, and regaining independence.
A fundraising campaign to support the defenders was organized during the conference. Participants also expressed their gratitude to Pavlo Kurynytskyi, director of the Ukrainian studies school in Minneapolis, and his wife, Liudmyla Shovdra, a Ukrainian language teacher. The couple helps wounded service members arriving in the United States by meeting them, providing assistance, and organizing fundraisers at parishes, schools, and Ukrainian communities.
Myroslava Rozdolska, head of the Ukrainian School Council of the USA, addressed school principals with a proposal to organize meetings with the service members at Ukrainian schools. She also called on them to share information about the work of the Protez Foundation, which provides prosthetics and rehabilitation for Ukrainian service members and helps children who have lost limbs because of the war.
Conference participants emphasized the importance of continued support for Ukraine’s defenders and cooperation among Ukrainian educational institutions in different countries. The meeting in Stamford provided an opportunity for educators to exchange experience and discuss joint efforts to preserve the Ukrainian language, culture, and national identity among younger generations abroad.
Author: Danylo Pievchev