Ukrainian native Oksana Nevedrova first visited the United States in 2015 on the invitation of a friend. Nevedrova was depressed after a divorce, and she felt a vacation away from her business consulting job and a totally new environment would be beneficial.
After that year, she returned to visit Sarasota, Florida, where her sister and mother live. Eventually Nevedrova made her way to Ohio. She followed a new boyfriend, a Ukrainian man who had actually lived in her apartment building in Ukraine, and with whom she reunited in the United States.
“I fell in love with Ohio. It is similar to Ukraine. It has four seasons, trees, and in some places even smells like my home country,” says Nevedrova, who had plans to return to Ukraine until its war with Russia began.
Up until that time, she admits to not having a lot of incentive to learn fluent English. But that changed quickly, and Nevedrova enrolled in the Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) Ohio Options for Adults program. She calls her instructor “the best ever,” encouraging her to ask questions, a practice she said is uncommon in Ukrainian education. She now has a job at a large Ohio auto dealership, handling title transfers.
“I want to live all my life in America, but I dream someday I can go back and visit my home country,” she says.
Nevedrova is just one of many Ukrainian natives who is taking advantage of Ohio Options for Adults, which includes a variety of free adult programs developed by the state’s Aspire program and Tri-C’s Adult Diploma Program. Aspire offers services for people who want to improve their basic math, reading and writing skills to be successful in post-secondary education, training and employment.
According to Will Canaday, Tri-C’s special projects coordinator, Ohio Options for Adults, Ohio Options is the largest non-credit program at the college. It is also the largest Aspire and Adult Diploma Program in the state. Of Tri-C’s 2,027 Ohio Options students, about 1,100 are English as Second Language (ESL) students, and 450 are Ukrainians.
“Approximately 90% of our Ukrainian students have some sort of professional degree,” says Canaday. “Aspire guidelines, one to six, provide levels of English language understanding, with six meaning you should be going to college. Our average Ukrainian student begins at level two, about a third-grade level.”
Canaday says he is impressed with the work ethic of Ukrainian students who are primarily seeking high school diplomas and workforce certifications. Many of these students live in Cleveland Heights, Euclid or Parma. Access to this education is available in more than 30 Tri-C partner classrooms, including those in libraries, schools, medical facilities, city government buildings and neighborhood organizations, as well as
Tri-C’s three campuses. Students also have access to Tri-C’s services and amenities, including its physical fitness centers, food pantry and tutoring programs.
“My last lesson at Tri-C was happy and sad. I brought balloons and a cake and thanked my teacher because I saw how much energy he put into every class. I learned so much,” says Nevedrova. “But I also want to learn to speak and discuss other things, not just about work. I will because now I know I can.”