Tunghai University held its 2022 graduation ceremony, inviting 21-year-old Ukrainian student Karyna Myshnova, who graduated from H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University (HNPU), Ukraine, to give a speech. The speech broke the tradition by having a newly-enrolled student to address the graduates. President Kuo-En Chang encouraged the graduating students to overcome difficulties in life like the brave Ukrainian new students. Karyna Myshnova said that the war interrupted her study, but she did not give up and chose to come to Taiwan to continue studying.
Tunghai University President Kuo-En Chang encourages the graduating students to overcome difficulties and to acquire more knowledge
Karyna Myshnova, who arrived in Taiwan in late April, shared her extraordinary experience with the war and how she made her journey to Taiwan. She choked several times when talking about Mariupol city, “the war has claimed 40,000 lives in the city, the land was stained by rotten bodies”. According to Karyna Myshnova, “Morning news at 3am on February 24 said that the Russian army was preparing to attack Kharkiv. 20 minutes later, I heard the first cannon fire in my life. I could never imagine the scenes of World War II that we saw in the movies become real. Within one day, all dreams were lost. The only hope was to survive.”
Ukrainian student Karyna Myshnova shares her life experiences and her inspiring journey to Taiwan
Karyna Myshnova learned about the Tunghai University “Away from War, Study in Taiwan” project, filed her application and arrived in Taiwan in late April. “I like Tunghai very much. I think Taichung is better than Taipei. I feel at home here, full of hope again,” said Karyna Myshnova. She further said that she wanted to pass the hope to all the graduating students, encouraging them to never give up, especially never give up any opportunity for learning.