Kateryna’s story: Last-minute miracles and God’s provision

An invasion’s trauma

Vechkanova and her family were members of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the city of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea where they became good friends with Katya’s family -- Katya’s father was pastor of the church and the two girls continued their friendship after Katya’s family moved away. Over the past three years while Vechkanova studied in the United States, Katya completed her college education in Ukraine and moved to its capital city of Kyiv. She secured a job there not long before the Russian offensive.

As explosions rippled through the city, Katya together with a few friends escaped westward in a painfully slow, traffic-snarled two-day car ride, a surreal journey in which Ukrainian military tanks passed them traveling the opposite direction. “Your brain cannot believe it’s real,” Vechkanova said, describing her friend’s experience. “She was so traumatized by that.”

Meanwhile, Katya’s mother traveled from the family’s home in Mykolaiv nearly 600 miles south of Kyiv to Germany and remained there to be closer to Katya’s father and brother who were required by law to stay in Ukraine in case the military required their service.

“Your brain cannot believe it’s real.” -- Kateryna Vechkanova, on her friend Katya's experience                      

Vechkanova’s hometown of Simferopol lies in Crimea in the eastern section of Ukraine which in 2014 fell under illegal Russian control. Vechkanova’s school conformed to Russian education protocol which included compulsory learning of the Russian language and observing a day that celebrated Russian war victories by wearing a symbol that was outlawed in Ukraine. Vechkanova refused to comply with the onerous new rules and found herself in stressful interactions with teachers.

Vechkanova also realized that graduating from a Russian high school would confine her higher education to Russian universities. “With that diploma I was not able to go to other countries [to enroll in college],” she said. So she decided to attend a high school across the border in mainland Ukraine, nearly 112 miles from her home, and take classes online while simultaneously attending the compulsory Russian-controlled high school nearby.

This arrangement meant occasional and stressful border crossings and skipping Russian classes in order to take in-person exams at the Ukrainian high school. “There was an armed Russian army at the border and going back home was always a challenge,” she said. “There was always a chance of not coming home. By the end of the year I was tired of all of these extra rules and complications. So I was just so ready to leave that that occupied territory,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vechkanova’s family remained active in their Seventh-day Adventist Church, although open discussion of God in public spaces was forbidden by Russian authorities. In 2019 Vechkanova completed her studies at both high schools and earned two diplomas. She was accepted into the Adventist college in Bucha, Ukraine near the capital Kyiv where she planned to live in the dorm and study English. She moved her belongings into the dorm at the end of July and with a month left before the start of school, she planned to travel with her family to the International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wis. She and her family acquired visas and flew to the states where she was placed on the camporee program to deliver a prayer in Ukrainian before the crowd of many thousands.

Unexpected Pathways

The day she was to give her prayer, Vechkanova’s mother urged her to join an informal gathering of Ukrainians who were meeting to talk about the things they were learning at the camporee and how those ideas could be incorporated in Ukraine. Although Vechkanova was nervous about appearing in front of the large camporee audience and wanted time to gather her thoughts she reluctantly agreed. Following the get-together, she happened to converse with a man whose two daughters were enrolled at Milo Adventist Academy in Oregon and at Andrews University in Michigan. The man suggested that Vechkanova could attend the Oregon school to learn English, earn a high school diploma in the U.S. and broaden her higher education opportunities.

“And I'm like, yeah, you know I finished two high schools and I'm already in college,” Vechkanova told the man. But he persisted in describing the attributes of the school, its beautiful location and its people and encouraged Vechkanova to try to enroll. “He's like, ‘I think you should just talk to the principal. You know, he's here.’”

A few moments later, Vechkanova found herself listening to Milo Adventist Academy Principal Randy Thornton also talk about the advantages of enrolling. She became intrigued by the idea, but the cost of tuition proved a hurdle for her family and its small business back in Ukraine. The principal suggested she engage in an interview with him and two other academy representatives to determine her eligibility for tuition sponsorship. She agreed, met the criteria, and was accepted to the school with the majority of tuition covered by sponsors.

Classes began within the next couple of days so with the key financial issues settled, Thornton told her she had an hour to decide whether or not she would enroll at the academy in Oregon. While she considered the life-changing opportunity that would pull her half a world away from her parents, the principal traveled into town to print out the required paperwork.

“So it was a little hard but I'm like, ‘okay, look God, if you already doing this miracles, if I'm going to say no right now, I will never forgive myself later.’ So I said yes, let's just trust God. If he's doing this, I'm going. So I told [the principal] yes. And then he brought me all the paperwork, I signed it all. I went back to Ukraine, got a visa, and went back straight to Oregon.”

Last-minute miracles

After completing a senior year which involved passing classes such as U.S. history, Vechkanova graduated from Milo Adventist Academy in 2020. “I have three diplomas, what am I going to do now?” she thought. Meanwhile, she had been accepted into Adventist colleges around the U.S., but once again tuition funding was a significant obstacle.

She prayed and approached the principal with her dilemma. An effort ensued to find sponsors for Vechkanova’s college tuition, but without results. Thornton then suggested Vechkanova continue to live at the academy campus during the following academic year and work as a food service intern with the campus chef. At the time she thought she might want to pursue culinary arts as a career. “I was not that excited of staying another high school year, but if God’s going to bring me closer to college, to stay in the United States, I am willing to do that,” she said.

"I don’t know where I would be today without my mighty and gracious God. He never failed me." -- Kateryna Vechkanova, psychology major 

During the ensuing months, Vechkanova wrote letters to individuals and sought connections to secure sponsorships for college, but again without the hoped-for results. One day in early 2021 while talking to the chef about her problem, he suggested she write a letter to a former boss of his. “’He likes to help, just write him a letter and see what happens,’” the chef told her. “So I'm like, why not? Let's do this, I’m not losing anything.’ So I wrote him a letter telling him my story. And I sent it to him. I didn't even know him,” Vechkanova said. 

A couple of months passed with no response. Then May 30, the last day of school arrived followed by the academy’s graduation. “During the whole year I was praying but nothing really happened,” she said. “After graduation of high school I was packing my stuff. I woke up one morning and I said, ‘Jesus, today's the day, if you're not going to show me what I'm going to do next, I'm going to buy a ticket to go back to Ukraine tomorrow.’

“I went back to work and [later] I'm coming back to my room. And I have a call from the secretary of the high school. And she's telling me that I have something in the mailbox. I was expecting my driver's license. So I’m opening the letter and instead it's a check with my name and La Sierra University. That day I was like, ‘Okay, God, I guess I'm done here.’” The check for $30,000, sent anonymously by the academy chef’s boss, covered the first year’s tuition.

“And the secretary just started crying and I was like in shock,” Vechkanova said. “I could not even like realize what is happening.”

During her freshman year at La Sierra, Vechkanova experienced the support of university leaders and of friends she made along the way. She bonded with Emily Kuchurivksi, a religious studies transfer student from Canada of Ukrainian heritage whose many family members are scattered throughout war-torn Ukraine. And she was gifted with an airline ticket from the Division of Student Life for her birthday so she could visit her family in Chicago during spring break. Her parents and 14-year-old brother had been able to escape to the U.S. under U.S. temporary protective status using their visas acquired in 2019. The protective status allows them to live and work in the U.S. for 18 months.

Vechkanova is now looking for ways to continue her studies at La Sierra and is once again investigating every possible lead that may assist with tuition. She will spend the summer in Chicago with her parents and brother while continuing to seek God’s provision.

College students from other countries who are studying in the U.S. have few financial aid options. Federal rules stipulate that assistance for foreign students is available only under limited conditions such as permanent residency. In 2021, federal education grants through the 2020 CARES Act for pandemic relief were finally opened to international students and continued through reiterations of federal Covid-19 relief programs. La Sierra University also established a student emergency aid fund to assist all students who face dire tuition, housing and other needs. However such resources do not fully cover tuition costs.

“To be completely honest, living in a world where you don't know what can happen to you or your loved ones at any moment is terrifying,” says Vechkanova. “But living with a trust in God is different. As a human I want clarity, but there is no faith in clarity. And I don’t know where I would be today without my mighty and gracious God. He never failed me. And I trust and know that as He provided for me before, He will do it again.”

For information on how to assist Kateryna Vechkanova and other international students in need, please contact advancement@lasierra.edu or call 951-785-2500.