watch it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\nSavchenko\u2019s\u00a0proposal to study the economic impact of sanctions and war, specifically on wheat export disruptions in Ukraine, intrigued the team evaluating applications, Jones said. She was the only freshman accepted into this year\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
This is not how Savchenko expected her story to unfold. She planned to continue her education after high school, but with a start in an average school in an average city in Ukraine. She never considered an American university.<\/p>\n
Her gap year was supposed to be focused on Taekwondo, with an October to August training regimen that ran six days a week.<\/p>\n
But war changes plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents decided to leave Ukraine while it was still possible to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s first months in Duncan, South Carolina, were intense and lonely. Then Savchenko\u2019s aunt brought them to English Crossing, a ministry of Hope Point Church in Spartanburg that provides English language lessons to immigrants. Savchenko was placed in the most advanced class, where Amy Bernhardt Henderson \u201995 was teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she was bright, but I didn\u2019t know the extent of who she was,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n
She was about to find out.<\/p>\n
When Savchenko was ready to start applying to colleges, she asked Henderson to read her essays. When\u00a0 Savchenko nailed the SAT, they celebrated together.<\/p>\n
Now Savchenko aimed for a big school in a big city, but Henderson suggested she also consider a place just down the road. Savchenko\u2019s first impression of Furman was that it was \u201cso peaceful, so comfortable\u201d it might not challenge her enough.<\/p>\n
Henderson told her that college \u201cwill be stressful enough for you. If the place feels comfortable, that\u2019s not bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Henderson cheering her on \u2013 she thought Anastasiia was a great fit for Furman \u2013 Savchenko won a full scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s everything we look for in a student: academic excellence, drive and resiliency,\u201d said Emily Schuck, vice president for Enrollment Management at Furman. \u201cShe has been an incredible addition to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Savchenko embraced the liberal arts model and soaked up the variety of her first semesters, especially math, economics and data analytics.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe lights up when she tells me about every class and every professor,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n
Staying busy with classes helps Savchenko keep from fixating on what\u2019s happening at home in Ukraine. Besides the dangers of war, friends and family members also live in the chaos of recurring blackouts and water shortages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war is still going on there and a lot of people\u2019s lives depend on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And she finds refuge in her sport.<\/p>\n
Savchenko\u2019s devotion to martial arts began as an obligation. Her younger brother was starting Taekwondo classes but was too nervous to attend alone. Her parents asked her to go along until he felt settled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you can come back to your musical studies and we won\u2019t bother you,\u201d they told her.<\/p>\n
That was a decade ago. Savchenko started competing at 9. She earned her black belt and won her first Ukranian national championship at 12. Since then, she has won eight additional national titles, five world cups and a European championship.<\/p>\n
She grieved the loss of Taekwondo when she left Ukraine. But a friend here introduced her to Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art. The sparring is more precise, with lighter contact than Taekwondo, but Savchenko felt a rush of familiarity.<\/p>\n
She misses the intensity of Ukrainian training but appreciates the coaches here who are disciplined and respectful versus \u201cscary and angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the opportunity to practice here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s my passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she adjusts \u2013 to a new martial art and to every other aspect of the last two years \u2013 she reminds herself it\u2019s \u201cnot my choice, not in my power.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some things are.<\/p>\n
Her family continues to connect weekly at English Crossing. Her father is still a student, her mother is a teacher, Savchenko works with a beginners\u2019 class and her sister helps care for the children of adult students. Savchenko has even pulled in her boyfriend, who teaches a class for Spanish speakers.<\/p>\n
For her, there\u2019s a direct line between her desire to give back to English Crossing and to Taekwondo, which emphasizes attributes such as integrity, perseverance and indomitable spirit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like an engine inside of me that keeps me going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anastasiia Savchenko \u201927 fled Ukraine with her family when war broke out. In South Carolina, the Ukrainian national Taekwondo champion found a place to practice martial arts, and a college home in Furman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":32892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[2882,207,208],"class_list":["post-32874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","tag-student-profiles","tag-student-research","tag-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32874"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33137,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32874\/revisions\/33137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/07\/2024-6-28-Anastasiia-Savchenko-Taekwondo-Pics-Edited-22-768x512.jpg\")