I woke up at 4 a.m. because I thought it was thunder.

Later I realized that we don't have thunderstorms like in this season in this part of the world.

So those were Russian rockets bombing Kyiv.

Everything like shrank in me.

For a moment.

I couldn't breathe.

I just felt this force.

Overcome with this sense of that's what I'm supposed to go do.

I'm supposed to go help.

I miss being there.

I miss the place.

My name is Dmytro and I'm a Fulbright scholar from Ukraine, and I study advertising public relations at Michigan State University.

I have been dreaming to study in the United States since I was like 12 years old.

I got accepted to a Fulbright scholarship in October 2021.

It was a very long and tedious process.

It meant a lot of paperwork because all men in the Ukraine are forbidden to leave the country because they can be drafted.

I was lucky because after I left, like two weeks passed and they prohibited students from leaving the country.

Basically, before the large scale invasion.

The feeling of war was kind of in the air, but like we didn't want to believe.

We hope for the best and some sanity will prevail.

But unfortunately it didn't happen.

Russia under Vladimir Putin has launched what U.S. officials describe as the most significant military action in Europe in 77 years.

On February 24, I woke up at 4 a.m. because the walls were shaking and windows were shaking.

I'm going to remember this feeling till the day I die, because in the center of Europe in the 21st century, it could be possible to start a war against a peaceful and sovereign, independent country.

In Michigan, my life is still built around Ukraine because I am always checking on my friends and family if they are all right.

I used to wake up like three or four times a night to check if they were okay because of the time difference, and I was afraid of loud noises.

The reaction would be just like to fall in the ground to take cover.

Some of my close friends were killed in action.

I miss my family because for me, Kyiv is my home.

War is hell.

If you're having a roof over your head, if you're having a food on your table, if bombs are not dropping down on your house, you're lucky.

You're so lucky, you're happy.

Just like cherish that, embrace this.

My name is Boyd.

I work full time for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and I also am part of a family farm that raises beef cattle.

I know.

We'll get your baby back in a little bit.

You know, as a kid, I had my own animals that I had to take care of.

And sometimes that meant bottle feeding calves.

You grow up surrounded by people that are always nurturing things.

It's all about trying to help things survive and grow and prosper, whether it's a crop, whether it's a cow.

Every farmer, I believe is, you just kind of become wired that way.

That a girl, see.

My medical history in recent years has been a driving force and revealing to me that you need to really get as much as you can out of every day because tomorrow is not promised.

I became what the doctors termed was a transfusion dependent.

I was barely existing.

I'd get a transfusion, which was like getting a new battery for about a week or so, and then you could just feel your body just cratering again.

After Christmas of 2021.

My blood count started to improve and I kept improving.

Doctors were kind of like throwing up their hands, like, we don't know what's going on.

We don't know why you're improving.

I said, What's going on?

She goes, If you're a man of faith, it must be your faith because this makes no sense to us.

And that led me to this next chapter in my life, which involved Ukraine.

This is from a friend of mine who was in an artillery unit in the Ukrainian army signed by everybody in that artillery unit.

These are pretty special.

Pretty special.

So the day that I felt like I knew what I was supposed to do, I was sitting here in this room watching the news.

It was about a week into the war in Ukraine.

Every day I'm watching the headlines, really being appalled with what was going on, because it was like World War Two was repeating itself.

I just felt this force, this sense of that's what I'm supposed to go do.

And I immediately picked up my phone and I started calling people.

I was on my computer reaching out to anybody I could think of who might have a connection over there.

I got connected with the refugee center in Krakow, Poland, who was looking for volunteers to come and help.

So then I bought a plane ticket, and literally two years ago, right now, I was in Krakow, Poland.

I just plunged in.

I just totally just went for it.

Three days after I got back, I was at a diner in Alpena having breakfast with my best friend.

Sharing with him what my experiences had been over there and how it had given me this idea of trying to organize some effort here to collect used clothing and send it over to Poland to give to the refugees.

Because at the time I was volunteering there, we were giving away 9000 items of clothing a day.

So we're sitting there in the restaurant and I'm sharing with him this idea.

And I told him I was confident people would have lots of good clothing to donate, but I wasn't sure of the money side of it because, you know, obviously you got to pay for shipping.

And this is a small diner and my voice carries.

Within a few minutes, a woman came over to the table and put five $20 bills down.

And it was a very powerful moment.

And then a short while later, a guy came over and put 40 bucks down.

And then about 15 minutes later, the waitress came over and put 100 bucks down and took off from there.

You know, it just it was a a great indicator of the generosity of people here.

And from that moment, I was like, you know what?

This is going to work.

Today I'm having my commencement ceremony.

This was my dream.

And that dream kept me sane.

And kind of alive during all these, like, dark months of the war.

I thought like no, that can't be me.

That's the other guy.

So it took one year to realize, Oh, yeah, I'm I'm getting like a degree in America.

Right now, I got a little bit exhausted, a bit excited obviously.

it's a melting pot of emotions.

The first thing you learn about Michigan is it's like two seasons, like winter and construction.

Ok, lets go graduate.

Let's go.

Let's go.

It's 8:50.

Come on.

Have to get inside.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Hello.

Yeah, that's me.

There you go.

Okay, so what I do with this?

You give that to your presenter when they give you your diploma.

Your fake diploma.

Hand that to the guy and he'll read your name.

Ok, thank you sir.

I think that they're starting.

Oh ok. today.

We recognize the scholarship and dedication of our graduate students.

By authority of the state of Michigan.

I confer upon you the degrees for which you have qualified with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle you.

As a symbol of your achievement it is traditional to move the tassel from the right side of your cap to the left side, and you may do so at this time.

And now we will mark this auspicious occasion with the presentation of diplomas from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Dmytro Shynkaruk.

Members of the graduating class of 2024.

This is my parting charge to you.

Your experience here and your degrees equip you to make a difference for yourself and for others.

I want to pass along some guidance from Frank Herbert.

There is no real ending.

It's just the place where you stop the story.

This then, is a milestone, but not the finish line in your journey.

And I hope you remain connected to this special university as you join the ranks of a half million degreed Spartans making the world a better place.

Go green.

Go white.

I still can't believe like it's been two years.

Like I still can't believe I'm here holding this like when when President Guskiewicz says like you know you can like move your tassel to the left it's like come on, is this really happening.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I have just graduated and I'm feeling excited.

I'm still processing what's happened.

I've been waiting for two years and I'm feeling excited.

I'm happy.

But actually I'm experiencing a wide range of emotions.

When I came back from the first trip, when we were at that diner, sitting there having breakfast, thinking about trying to start some kind of an effort, we came up with "One Box for Ukraine."

Here we are two years later, and we've been able to collect and send over 23,000 items of clothing.

I am upstairs, which I call the "Wearhouse."

W-E-A-R house.

And yeah, due to the volume of donations that keep coming in because people are so generous.

This has become the winter coat room.

This is a spare bedroom, and there's probably a couple hundred winter coats in here.

Every room in the house has a lot of stuff in it, even though we are shipping all the time.

People keep bringing it in.

So each of these pieces of paper correlates with one of the boxes that we're going to ship in this next shipment.

What we're sending over there, in terms of all the different items, so short sleeved shirts, shorts, socks, shoes, jackets.

So all the boxing happens in the kitchen.

I keep track of everything, so I know how much of each item is in each box.

How many pair of underwear.

How many socks.

How many pair of pants.

How many pairs of shoes.

And that way we have an accurate count of all the different aid that we've provided over there.

Most of these towns in northeast Michigan are four or 500 people, maybe a thousand people.

And lots of people live on farms out in the country.

So it's, you know, small town America.

So many people have stepped forward and have wanted to help.

So the next part of this journey for all of these boxes on their way to Ukraine is driving them from northeast Michigan all the way down to Warren.

It's about a three and a half hour drive each way.

So it's a seven hour day just to get these boxes on the next leg of their journey.

Do I consider myself patriotic?

Absolutely.

That's what I tell people.

You don't want any political discussion comes up.

I said, all I know is I'm a patriot from the principles this country was founded on.

That's what I try to align with.

With patriotism, I think there's a sense of justice and good and right.

As I was watching what was unfolding in Ukraine, it reminded me exactly of what happened at the beginning of World War Two when other countries were invaded, people were brutalized and pushed out of their homes.

I feel like, you know, those who uphold good have a have a duty to try to help other people who are oppressed.

This is like the next to the last step of getting this stuff in the hands of the people who really need it.

We have arrived at the shipping point.

It's actually a Ukrainian shipping company.

They exclusively only ship to Ukraine and we're fixing to unload the boxes and get them weighed and inventoried for customs and sent on their way.

So Oleg, today we've got six of these big boxes for you to help me get on their way.

Yes Boyd.

That's what he always says.

Ok Boyd, Hi Boyd.

Don't worry about Boyd, I got it.

You know, he's like, just sit down, have a coffee.

You know, I hear a lot of different people.

My friends and other people will espouse certain things and have these opinions about Ukraine and what's going on over there.

And, you know, a lot of times I want to say, So what is your source?

Consider your source.

And also, I would always encourage people, you know, do your fact checking.

When you hear about what's going on in Ukraine, you get a whole spectrum of information.

Should we be helping or shouldn't we?

And I have chose to operate that this is about people helping people.

The first Christmas that I went there in 2022, one of the teachers there that I met, you know, I, I came back here and her son was killed.

He was part of a mortar unit and they got hit.

And so I went back there in March and saw her again.

And what can you do?

You can just you can hug people.

It's wonderful to be here in Grand Rapids.

We want to have this conversation with you.

So the whistle stop tour is about what's going on in Ukraine.

Nce to meet you Heather.

Like, I'm so glad to meet you.

Thank you for coming.

And think of all the efforts that you do to support Ukraine.

This is very important.

So we come into communities and lift up what's happening.

We help build solidarity and we hope that when we leave here, we've given you something to think about.

Can I just ask you, what are the conversations like with fellow students or community leaders?

Are they expressing doubts to you about supporting Ukraine and why you have like different people, like some people don't even know?

They don't even know.

They don't even know.

Like, for example, if some of my coursemates were just amazed, like when I was telling, like, about my logistics of like of getting here.

Like what's happening back there?

And the doubts they have.

I've been getting a lot of questions like, can Ukraine win this war?

Can Ukraine win the war?

Can they do it?

If we give them the capabilities that they need, I believe they can.

Well my answer is like, if we unite our efforts, Yes, like 100%.

Like if like, if everyone unites, like in Ukraine, you know, in America, like in all the free world, we can do this.

But like, but Ukraine needs that effort, like that support.

Like and you can do like, you can make a difference here.

Let's think about the other flip of that question.

What happens if Ukraine is not successful?

What happens if the Russians break through their lines and continue to do that?

Well, now we have a bigger cost.

Now we have Iran and North Korea and China and Russia feeling very ascendant and they're going to continue to press.

The best thing we can do is have the Ukrainians stop this in Ukraine, because if they can't, it's not going to look like 1938.

It's going to look like 1939.

I got here about two and a half weeks ago.

The first week we went to Volodymyr, to a school for deaf children.

And then the second week I went all the way to the front line.

I probably shouldn't even be here now because of all the crap that happened we were in Kozatske, I mean, we were bombed and shelled, we had grenades dropped on us on the house.

I mean, it was frickin crazy.

Today we were at a shelter for about 30 kids and we were there at Christmas time.

We went back today and, you know, we were talking about what these kids must feel like.

Nobody comes to take them on a holiday or pick them up.

So you want to do what you can do.

Freedom, democracy and pursuit for happiness.

We all cherish these values because there are human values.

My dream came true.

I've been dreaming about studying in the United States since I was 12.

What does home mean to me?

Well, Ukraine is my home.

Michigan is my home, far from home.

I have learned that every little bit makes a difference and it's that simple.

And my way of thinking about things has changed from the point of view that if I can't help 100 people, it's not worth my time to the point of if I can help one person, it's absolutely worth my time.