Former Southern Wells exchange student, a native of Ukraine, shares with students his experience fighting Russia
By JESSICA BRICKER
A Ukrainian soldier fighting the Russians with drones credits his interest in robotics to his time studying at Southern Wells Jr./Sr. High School.
“I didn’t really imagine my life with the army. I never wanted to go to the army and never saw myself as a soldier,” he said. But he couldn’t stand by and “do nothing while these horrible things are happening in my country, so I decided to help out the best that I can.”
Students on Wednesday — which was described as the “49th day of war” — had the chance to hear via Zoom from a former exchange student living in Kyiv. Alex, whose last name is being withheld to help protect his identity, was active in school activities during his time at Southern Wells in 2016 and 2017 and has stayed in touch with his former coach Monica Edgeman.
Edgeman said as the war loomed with Russia, she increased her contact with Alex. She and social studies teacher Tricia Tucker organized two presentations with the former student this week.
The presentations were originally scheduled for Tuesday but fog closed schools across Wells County. Alex noted the irony of a weather-related closure when students in Ukraine are attending school while bombs are being dropped on their cities, he said.
He said he was inspired by Doug Hunt’s industrial technology program at Southern Wells and he continued his studies in robotics after leaving northeast Indiana.
While home visiting his family during the winter academic break, Russia invaded Ukraine. Alex put aside writing his thesis and volunteered for the Ukrainian army, for which he teaches soldiers how to fly drones for reconnaissance intelligence efforts.
While the war has devastated his country, he said it has made them stronger than ever.
“I’m really happy to see how this war brought together Ukrainians because I’ve never seen anyone so united. Everyone is trying to help out whichever way they can,” he said. “Whichever way this war turns out, I’m incredibly proud of Ukrainians and Ukraine in general.”
He spoke of how he and his parents are in relative safety right now — his apartment in Kyiv is intact — and how volunteers are helping with supplies, from food to ammunition. But the southern regions of the country are destroyed.
“In occupied regions they’re looting houses of people, they’re killing civilians, just mass shooting, raping, everything. All the war crimes that you can imagine, they are being done,” Alex said.
The biggest tragedy is unfolding in the cities and villages currently under siege by Russian troops, Alex said, and he doesn’t want to think about what will be seen when those areas are taken back.
“The level of humanitarian crisis is insane because most of the people can’t really flee … The conditions that they have to survive in right now are horrible,” Alex said.
He urged the students to familiarize themselves with what’s going on and to use credible sources to do so. Some images can’t be shared in public media, he said, because of the cruelty of Russia’s actions.
“The biggest goal right now is to share the level of war crimes and the stuff that’s going on here so that people in the West can make sure they see that it’s the genocide of the 21st century,” he said. “Civilians are being murdered just for being Ukrainians.”
He said the consequences of the war for Americans — higher gas prices and inflation, for example —are small prices to pay.
“… Those consequences are reasonable considering the genocide that’s happening and the war that’s happening closer to you than you think,” Alex said. “The small drawbacks that this has on your country are not as horrible as what we’re witnessing here.
“It’s really important to win this war,” he said.
jessica@news-banner.com
