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Almost two years ago, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, where Iona Volynets’ family lives. Volynets, a senior at Syracuse University, knew they had to help in some way to protect Ukrainian heritage and culture from being erased.

Since the start of the war, Volynets has worked to help Ukrainian refugees. After researching other cultural exhibits, they were inspired to create a Syracuse-based project to showcase cultural preservation in libraries in Ukraine. Through the project, Volynets realized they want to continue their passion for safeguarding Ukrainian culture in their post-graduate career.

“In addition to how awful the loss of life is, and all of the destruction to the country, it’s also this war where what are the very clear targets of Putin of invading (the) country is to destroy and eradicate the independent culture of Ukraine,” Volynets said.

In December, Volynets was named as one of the 2024 Marshall Scholars — a scholarship that finances 51 students across the United States to pursue a graduate degree in any field of study at an institution of their choice in the United Kingdom. Volynets is the sixth SU student to be named a Marshall Scholar. They plan to study philosophy and museum anthropology to pursue a career in safeguarding Ukrainian heritage.

Volynets also received the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service in October 2022 and was named a 2023 Truman Scholar in April in recognition of their leadership, service and academic accomplishment.

Originally from Washington D.C., Volynets was raised by a Ukrainian father and a Swedish-American mother. They originally came to SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to study international diplomacy and development but eventually decided to pursue their passion for arts and culture. They are now majoring in history and international relations with minors in museum studies and Russian.

“The more I took classes in museum studies just for fun, the more I realized that I was really wrong and there’s tons of really impactful work to do in museums,” Volynets said.

Through SU’s Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service, their current project, which will be presented in March at the Soule Branch Library, will exhibit how libraries in Ukraine have responded to the war and preserved Ukrainian heritage, Volynets said.

“The destruction to Ukrainian heritage, both tangible and intangible, has been one element of the war that’s been, I mean, there’s really no other way to put it … I felt like if I were to work in that field, I could do something that mattered and respond to something that was upsetting me,” Volynets said.

Laurel Morton, transportation coordinator at the Shaw Center, met Volynets in the summer of 2022 when they became a leadership intern. Since then, Morton said Volynets has become an “integral” part in helping the center to build on its service, particularly through a public relations approach.

“Iona is very colorful, and really is a maker,” Morton said. “They have this really ingrained knowledge of what it takes to build community.”

Morton praised Volynets’ library project, which she said will be successful because of their ability to connect people and build “meaningful” project work.

Volynets has also reached out to local and national organizations such as the Ukrainian National Home and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America to collaborate on community service initiatives. Syracuse has historically had a large number of Ukrainians in the community, Morton said, and Volynets has been successful in connecting this local Ukrainian population to the project.

“They’re very interested in cultural heritage, not just Ukrainian cultural heritage, but the preservation of that through museums and understanding of how culture affects decision-making, for everybody in the community,” Morton said.

Seyeon Lee, an associate professor in SU’s School of Design, met Volynets at The Lender Center for Social Justice at SU, where Volynets was a student fellow. The two of them collaborated on the “Access to Wellness” project from 2021 to 2023. The project focused on helping minority women refugees primarily living in the Northside neighborhood, Lee said.

In addition to their work to preserve Ukrainian heritage, Volynets has been impactful in “all senses” of helping the community because of their willingness to do “hands-on” work in the direct community, Lee said.

“They’re very capable of looking at things in very various and very broad perspective(s), (doing) engagement through community outreach, and their dedication to research and looking into the cultural aspects of everything,” Lee said.

Along with juggling community service and academic commitments, Volynets finds it challenging to help those directly in Ukraine while living in the U.S. They said being Ukrainian-American makes it difficult to know their “place” in their advocacy work while trying not to “overstep” their boundaries.

However, Volynets said they know their work matters. They said there is a lack of awareness in the U.S. regarding the war, which they said is understandable because not all of the issues affect people in the U.S. directly.

“It’s important to keep people aware of what’s happening and the fact that just because it’s (not) in the news list doesn’t mean that things are getting better,” Volynets said.

With the 2024 Marshall Scholarship, Volynets hopes to attend the University of Oxford in England to continue their work in preserving Ukrainian heritage after graduating from SU.

“(Volynets is) willing to help everybody within their capability and if there’s anything that they can do to reach (the) broader community, I know they will be the first one to be there,” Lee said.

Clarification: Volynets has not worked specifically with Ukrainian refugees in Syracuse but more broadly with the general refugee community in Syracuse. Volynets did volunteer with Ukrainian refugees in Tbilisi.

Published on January 30, 2024 at 10:59 pm