New Ukrainian private Christian school opens in the Lexington area

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A new Ukrainian private Christian school began classes for the first time on Wednesday.

Hope Christian Academy is located off Nicholasville Road and East Tiverton Way in Lexington.

Inside, you will find 74 students of Ukrainian descent, and classes cover kindergarten through eighth grade.

There are an estimated 5,000 people of Ukrainian descent living in Nicholasville and the population is growing.

The school administration says the environment allows their students to focus on Christ, school and maintaining their cultural roots.

“It is very important for cultural reasons; we do want to preserve our Ukrainian heritage, our roots, and this is a wonderful opportunity for students to have Ukrainian instruction for 45 minutes every day,” said Principal Zoriana Selepina.

Some students were recently forced to come to America due to the war in their homeland. They feel adjusting to a new country shouldn’t be too hard.

“I think they have the safety net, the safety blanket with the Ukrainian community around them,” Selepina said.

The school has a few goals for its future: make it affordable for the public, have their own building they are currently renting space and have high school classes.

They are planning fundraisers to raise money for the school’s future.