Ukrainian family welcomed by Union City Schools
UNION CITY, Tenn. — A family forced to flee Ukraine due to Russia’s invasion was welcomed with open arms in West Tennessee.
Union City Schools says that the Kostanian family left their home country for the US, with three kids attending schools in Union City this past year.
The youngest of the three, Oleksii, joined Sara Brown’s kindergarten class this past school year.
The school system says that they were able to display pictures, maps, and information on Ukraine – even before he arrived on the first day of school.
They say that Brown was also able to set up an area in her classroom as a place of reference and often steered students to that area when learning about Oleksii and his homeland throughout the school year.
“I’ll never forget the look on his family members’ faces when they saw this hanging in my classroom,” Brown said of the display. “They were brought to tears, but all I could imagine was the difficulties they’d faced on their journey – leaving their home and businesses and immersing themselves in a world that was new and unknown to them.”
Timofii, who attended second grade, and Matvii who attended sixth grade, were also embraced by their classmates and enjoyed successful years, the school system says.
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