She’s only been there a week, but Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn is already filling up notebooks with knowledge she’ll share with her Ukrainian colleagues when she returns to the newspaper in September.
Romanyshyn arrived earlier this month in Columbia, Missouri, where she is immersing herself in a rigorous journalism education program at the University of Missouri, home to the one of the best journalism schools in the world. She will also get involved with the Columbia Missourian, the news organization managed by professional editors and staffed by journalism students.
Romanyshyn is on a six-month fellowship with Alfred Friendly Press Partners, which provides work and study opportunities in America to international journalists. She is the Kyiv Post’s fourth fellow in as many years. Previous Kyiv Post fellows are current Kyiv Post staff writers Olena Goncharova and Oksana Grytsenko as well as former Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina.
“Columbia is a quiet city, an ideal place to immerse in studies. The schedule is intense and we study for 8–9 hours per day, leaving evenings for homework,” Romanyshyn said. “I am impressed how practical the program is. Over this week we’ve already learned data search tools, U.S. ethics, key factors on business trends and had a writing exercise. And we just started!”
Romanyshyn also counts “as a bonus the chance to communicate closely with the other fellows. Over the last week, my knowledge of foreign policy and culture increased significantly. I study in a group with journalists from Kenya, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Cuba. Although the agenda is tough, I hope I’ll find time to dig more into American culture.”
After three months in Missouri, Romanyshyn will start working at the Chicago Tribune, one of the 10 largest newspapers in America.
Her fellowship was made possible with financial donations from nearly 100 Kyiv Post supporters who donated to a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign that raised 25 percent of the cost of the fellowship.
“Your donation of $7,560 has made it possible for Yuliana Romanyshyn to join the Alfred Friendly Fellows Class of 2017,” said Randall D. Smith, president of Alfred Friendly Press Partners. “Because of contributions like yours, we are able to continue our mission – to create a transformative experience for up-and-coming journalists from countries struggling with a free press yet striving toward democracy continues.”
The program was founded in 1983 “in the belief that just societies must have a vigorous and principled free press,” according to its mission statement. “The Alfred Friendly Press Partners aims to build strong newsrooms that make possible an informed citizenry. We work to strengthen skills and values by placing talented international journalists in U.S. newsrooms and by establishing long-term training partnerships with news organizations that share our goal of fostering professional excellence.”
The program was started by Alfred Friendly (1911–1983), a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and Washington Post managing editor from 1955–1965. The Alfred Friendly Foundation has trained more than 300 journalists from 80 countries since 1984.
Romanyshyn has been a staff writer at the Kyiv Post since January 2015. She is a graduate of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv with an M.A. degree in Japanese language and literature and Ukrainian language and literature.
In December, she completed a six-week New Diplomacy Fellowship with Spiegel Online in Germany.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn in Columbia, Missouri. (Courtesy)
