Embassy intern funded by TWG (08/25/96)

Embassy intern funded by TWG

by Yaro Bihun

WASHINGTON - During her first two years at Georgetown University, Helena Zyblikewycz walked by the Ukrainian Embassy a countless number of times. The building is but a few blocks from the campus.

But she never went inside.

Until this summer, that is. And now she's making up for lost time, working long hours as The Washington Group's first summer intern at the Ukrainian Embassy.

Ms. Zyblikewycz, of Marlton, N.J., was selected from a list of applicants following a joint review by the Ukrainian Embassy and the TWG Fellowship Fund, which provides the intern with a $1,500 stipend during her two-month internship.

Her assignment is in the Embassy press office, gathering Ukraine-related information by computer from the Internet, translating news releases and helping put together the Embassy's newsletter and brochure.

A third-year student at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service majoring in international economics, Ms. Zybli-kewycz began her internship in mid-July, following an early-summer Penn State University-sponsored fellowship at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. At the conclusion of her Embassy internship, she will leave for England, to spend her junior year abroad at the London School of Economics.

Without any press or diplomatic experience, Ms. Zyblikewycz underwent a "baptism of fire" of sorts at the Embassy, coming as she did just before the Washington visit of Ukraine's new prime minister, Pavlo Lazarenko, which kept her and the rest of the Embassy staff busy almost around the clock.

"It was my first experience traveling with any kind of foreign dignitaries, my first press experience," the 20-year-old intern said.

"The preparation was a lot of work, but it was rewarding," she added. "I've learned so much about Ukraine in the past two weeks - everything that's going on in Ukraine, its economic reforms - and I've read the whole Constitution backwards and forwards."

Ms. Zyblikewycz grew up in Marlton, near Philadelphia, where she has been active in the Ukrainian scouting organization Plast and attended Ridna Shkola, the Saturday school of Ukrainian studies.

Her future plans include graduate school in economics and a career with one of the international financial organizations she had a chance to visit at the highest levels during Prime Minister Lazarenko's talks in Washington.

Now that the Western economic model is being accepted in Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Ms. Zyblikewycz says she sees a need to re-evaluate it and fix some of its shortcomings.

Ms. Zyblikewycz read about the new TWG Embassy Internship Program in The Ukrainian Weekly. Intrigued by the possibility of working there, but not sure whether the internship would fit into a very tight summer schedule that began at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and will end at the London School of Economics, she, nonetheless, applied. She was selected, and the internship fit, albeit snugly, between Kyiv and London.

The fellowship at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was Ms. Zyblikewycz's first visit to Ukraine. She described the experience as "fantastic, out of this world." The foreign students were not isolated but lived "with the people" in the suburbs and commuted by public transit, she recalled. "It wasn't a glamorous experience at all, but it was wonderful."

The Washington Group President George Masiuk said the Embassy Internship Program was established to institutionalize a link between the Ukrainian American community and the Embassy of Ukraine.

In addition to translating, writing and other information-related work, the intern would give the Embassy an American perspective and approach to issues and problems, Mr. Masiuk said.

"In return, the intern will get valuable job experience and develop contacts that hopefully will launch a successful career, perhaps one that involves Ukrainian-American relations," he added.

Even after only two weeks at the Embassy, Ms. Zyblikewycz has little doubt about the benefits of the internship program.

"It's been a great experience - exciting for now, and it will be useful in the future. Hopefully, I'm helping the Embassy out to the degree that they would like," she said.

Mr. Masiuk sees the new program as a good example for other organizations to follow.

"I think this type of cooperation will serve as a model for other Ukrainian American organizations and, hopefully, they, too, will sponsor interns," Mr. Masiuk said.

Since 1990, the TWG Fellowship Fund has awarded more than a dozen fellowships totaling $14,500 to scholars, writers, journalists and researchers utilizing resources available in the Washington area.

The Washington Group, with more than 350 members, is the largest Ukrainian American business person's and professionals' association in the United States. Although based in Washington, the organization is national in its membership, attracting about half its members from across the United States as well as a small number from abroad.

The organization also has a Cultural Fund, which showcases Ukrainian artists and groups before Washington audiences. TWG also sponsors an annual leadership conference in October, which this year will review Ukraine's five years of independence.