Ukrainian refugee, SPC student earns prestigious scholarship 

Yelyzaveta “Zali” Yurchevska was preoccupied with survival in war-torn Ukraine less than three years ago. The St. Petersburg College graduate will now pursue a filmmaking career in New York City. 

Yurchevska, 19, recently became one of 90 nationwide recipients of the highly competitive Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. She could not have attended a four-year university without the award. 

The scholarship, named after the late Canadian-American broadcasting and professional sports mogul, provides up to $55,000 annually and an extensive support network. Yurchevska was overwhelmed with shock and emotion when an SPC counselor told her she had won.

“I was crying because I couldn’t believe it,” Yurchevska said. “I’m living my life, driving my car, and I remember the news and start to cry. It’s been like that for three days.” 

Zali Yurchevska has already produced several music videos and short films and started a company.

The money is enough to cover a significant share of educational expenses – tuition, living costs, books and fees – for the final two years of a bachelor’s degree. Recipients also receive personal advisors and can apply for travel, conference and internship stipends. 

The application process required several essays, and Yurchevska felt confident in her stories about an already extraordinary life. “I would have picked myself,” she said.

However, Yurchevska has never felt like luck was on her side. She has “never won something big like that,” and the email announcing her scholarship eligibility went to a spam folder. 

“If someone is not fully covering my education, I’m just not going to study,” Yurchevska thought. “Maybe later, when I’m working and saving up money – maybe I’ll already have a family – then I’ll get my bachelor’s (degree). If I am meant to study right now, then I probably will get the scholarship this year.”

She won and stumbled into the hallway to cry. Yurchevska then texted the professors who supported her journey and called her family. 

Yurchevska took every elective class related to filmmaking that SPC offered while earning her associate degree. Her dream career began at the age of 14 in Ukraine. 

A chance encounter with a singer she idolized led to a choreography gig and Yurchevska’s first music video experience. She subsequently worked on the Ukrainian version of the television show Lip Sync Battle and directed her first music video – “not really good, but not too bad for the first time.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Yurchevska’s dreams of producing and directing movies became trivial. She called the last three months in her native country “terrible.” 

“You feel like your life stopped, and you’re not sure if it’s going to continue,” Yurchevska said. “The only goal for me, and everyone in Ukraine, for this day, for this minute, is to survive. 

“You can’t be safe in a territory that is not close to the front line because you have no idea where the next rocket is going to explode. And it can happen in a minute.” 

Zali Yurchevska hopes to become a successful filmmaker and give back to the local community that supported her journey.

Yurchevska fled to Europe for five months. In December 2022, she arrived in the United States. The experience “felt like a movie.”

Yurchevsaka “loves” the country’s diversity and various cultures. She also emphasized her appreciation for the “huge amount of opportunities” that await those who are willing to “fight for their dreams.” 

“This scholarship is a good example,” Yurchevska added. “I did not have an opportunity to get it, but everyone got together for me to make it happen.” 

She hopes to earn a filmmaking degree from New York University and awaits the institution’s decision. Pace University, also a private school in the city, is her second choice. 

Yurchevska founded CurArt Agency, a curated casting and production company. She is working with another team on a feature-length movie and will shoot a short film in July.

The 15-minute short stars two Emmy Award-winning actresses, and Yurchevska will submit it to several film festivals. She also noted that a full-length screenplay based on her relationship with her father is about halfway complete. 

Yurchevska hopes to find success and give back to the local filmmaking community. She also dispelled the notion that SPC is merely a stepping stone that allows students to save money for university. 

“If SPC had a film degree, I would gladly graduate from it with my bachelor’s (degree), just because of the professors and faculty there,” Yurchevska said. “They’re paying attention to you. They’re taking care of you.” 

To view some of Zali Yurchevska’s work, visit the website here.