american legion middle school essay contest

Americanism Essay Contest

The Auxiliary’s annual Americanism Essay Contest encourages participants to learn about the fundamental rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Each year's contest has a different theme.

The Americanism Essay Contest was created to teach students the value of patriotism and what it means to be Americans. Thousands of students participate in the program each year and help promote a lifelong respect of our flag and country.

Students (grades 3 to 12) explore the fundamental rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Each year’s contest has a different theme; one student in each category per division is awarded a prize. There is a category for students with special needs.

Current Essay Theme:  “What does Freedom mean to me?”

Essay Contest Awards

Grade levels are divided into six classes. One award in each of the six classes will be presented in each division. Winners will receive $50 and a $50 donation in the student’s name will be made to the Children of Warriors National Presidents’ Scholarship fund.

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Meaning of freedom: County students win American Legion Essay Contest

Warren Area Elementary Center American Legion essay contest winners include, from left, Grayson Zale (third grade, third place), Elizabeth Rockwell (third grade, second place), Lennox Wagner (third grade, first place), Lilly Flick (fourth grade, first place), Alex Lent (fourth grade, second place) and Sidney Arnold (fourth trade, third place). Also in the photo are, at left, Pam Colvin, American Legion Contest Coordinator for Warren, and, right, Rebecca Downey, enrichment instructor.

That was the prompt for this year’s American Legion Americanism Essay Contest.

Students across Warren County did the rest.

“Winners were selected from essay submissions from the various classes or age bands from each region in the county,” Rebecca Downey, enrichment instructor, explained.

The top three winners in each school received a monetary prize and have their essay now to go to the state competition.

Photos provided to the Times Observer Cailee Williams, a student at Eisenhower Elementary School, was first place at her school in the American Legion essay contest.

“Freedom means you can do what you want, when you want, and how you want to do it,” Cailee Williams, an Eisenhower Elementary student wrote. “Abusing these freedoms can lead to consequences. Even though there are consequences for every choice you make, having the ability to choose is what makes freedom so important to me.”

“Freedom is the basic source of happiness as every other thing will reach us only if we have the liberty to do things,” Lilly Flick, a fourth-grader at Warren Area Elementary Center explained. “Freedom gives you the opportunity to take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, and improve your skills.

“Freedom to protect people who protect us is also important,” Lennox Wagner, a WAEC third-grader wrote. “No one should be a slave to anyone. It is OK to work hard and have a boss, as long as you are being paid.”

“I was born and raised almost my whole life in Ukraine, but almost two years ago war started once again,” Sasha Komina, who took first at Beaty-Warren Middle School, wrote. “In some cities people were harmfully forced to leave our country, and go to Russian territory. If they didn’t leave, they would harm and kill those innocent people.

“At the moment, our country is fighting for our freedom. If we don’t fight, Russia would have taken over our country and they would control us. Russia has different opinions and rules than us that we don’t agree with, and if they would take over our country we would have no freedom (of) speech, no freedom of doing something or anything.”

“I want people to know what’s happening,” she added, “because not any of the innocent people that just wanted to live a peaceful life deserve any of this.”

According to the American Legion Auxiliary, the American Essay Contest was created to “teach students the value of patriotism and what it means to be Americans. Thousands of students participate in the program each year and help promote a lifelong respect of our flag and country.”

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The American Legion Post 90

At this time, please use the Admin Sign In to access the Admin Area for a message about your Legionsite's status. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at [email protected] . Please visit us online at legionsites.com if you need to renew your Legionsite subscription.

If you are not the site administrator, please inform your Post of the inaccessible status of their website.

The American Legion Department of Virginia 2nd District

Middle school essay.

Department Link:   https://valegion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-2024-AMERICAN-LEGION-Middle-School-Essay-Contest-Rules-08302023.pdf

“I LIKE LIVING IN AMERICA BECAUSE”

Open to all accredited Middle School Students at participating schools, Public, Private, or Parochial within the sponsoring jurisdiction of established American Legion Posts in the Department of Virginia.  Home schooled children are eligible to compete  provided  the Division Superintendent, his/her assistant or other designated person of the public school system certify on the attached Declaration Form, the students grade level and their adherences to contest rules.  It shall be the responsibility of the home schooler’s parents to contact the sponsoring American Legion Post and have above certifications completed.

• Each essay MUST start out with the phrase: “I like living in America because…”

Each essay is to be hand written on the front side of one 8 1/2” X 11” page of lined notebook paper. Typed or computer generated essays WILL BE considered for students with disabilities meeting the following requirements:

The digital essay must be under 160 words.

• The teacher of the student must certify that the essay received was the work of the student author.
• The essay is to be written by the competing Middle School Student at their desk in school (during structured class time if home schooled), not at home.
• Middle School – The competing schools Language Arts/English/Civics department will judge each entry on originality, sincerity and the student’s ability to convey thought. The Language Arts/English/Civics department may add such additional criteria as composition, spelling, and proper punctuation.   ONLY ONE  essay should be forwarded to the sponsoring Post.
• Post Level – The winning essay from each Middle School will be mailed to the sponsoring American Legion Post contest Chairman (his/her name and address appear on the attached Declaration Form). It is suggested that each Post’s Executive Board/Committee or contest Chairman, with a committee of at least three judges, select the best essay.   ONLY ONE  essay should be forwarded to the District.
• District Level – It is suggested that each District will convene a panel of at least three judges, chaired by their District’s Americanism or Essay Contest Chairman to select the best essay.  ONLY ONE  essay should be submitted per District.
• Department Level – the Department Americanism Chairman will convene a panel of judges consisting of members of the Americanism Committee and/or other professionals, who will make the final selections.
• Middle School/Home School  – Each participating Middle School/Home School should mail their winning essay and declaration form to the Post Level Chairman whose name appears on the form no later than the last day of the Middle School’s classes prior to  Christmas Vacation  on   December 21, 2023 .
• Posts  – Each participating Post will judge and mail their winning essay to the District Americanism Chairman or Middle School Essay Contest Chairman to arrive prior to their District’s Spring Conference  on  February 11, 2024 .
• Districts  – Each participating District will mail their winning essay with attached Declaration Form to: Americanism Committee Chairman, John Schenk, 406 E. Randall Ave, Norfolk, VA.  23503,  to arrive no later   than February 20, 2024 .  Winners will be announced at the Department Spring Conference on  March 1, 2024 .
• Each Middle School Language Arts/English/Civics Department which sends a winning essay to you receives an American Legion “Certificate of Participation” signed by the Post Commander and the Post’s Essay Chairman and a $50.00 check for the school’s use.
• Each winning essay student at the Post Level is presented with an American Legion “Certificate of Appreciation” signed by the Post Commander and the Post’s Essay Chairman and a $50.00 check.
• The winning essay student’s  teacher  receives a check from your post in the amount of $25.00 to be used to assist in his/her purchase of classroom materials.
• The winning essay student from your District receives an American Legion “Certificate of Appreciation” signed by your District Commander and District Americanism Chairman or Essay Contest Chairman.
• The winning essay student receives a $50.00 check.
• The winning essay student’s Language Arts/English/Civics  teacher  receives a $50.00 check to go toward assisting in purchasing supplies and materials for their school’s department.
• The First Place Winner will receive a $250.00 check.
• The Second Place Winner will receive a $100.00 check.
• The Third Place Winner will receive a $50.00 check.
• A $50.00 check to winning essay student’s teacher to be used to assist in his/her purchase of classroom materials.

The American Legion Post 175, Inc.

The American Legion Post 175

Middle School Essay Contest

“I LIKE LIVING IN AMERICA BECAUSE...”

Open to all accredited Middle School Students at participating schools, Public, Private, or Parochial within the sponsoring jurisdiction of established American Legion Posts in the Department of Virginia. Home schooled children are eligible to compete provided the Division Superintendent, his/her assistant or other designated person of the public school system certify on the attached Declaration Form , the students grade level and their adherence to contest rules. It shall be the responsibility of the home schooler’s parents to contact the sponsoring American Legion Post and have the certifications completed.

Hanover County, Virginia Middle Schools have been 'paired' with an American Legion Post as follows:

Bell Creek and Oak Knoll Middle Schools : Send submission to - The American Legion Post 175, Mechanicsville, VA

Private schools, Parochial schools and home-schooled students east of Interstate 95 (I-95), send submissions to Post 175.

Chickahominy and Liberty Middle Schools : Send submission to - The American Legion Post 90, Beaverdam, VA

Private schools, Parochial schools and home-schooled students west of Interstate 95 (I-95), send submissions to Post 90.

Please do not forget to include your Declaration Form with your submission.

• For 2022-2023, each essay started with the phrase: “I like living in America because…”
• The digital essay must be under 160 words.
• The teacher of the student must certify that the essay received was the work of the student author.
• The essay is to be written by the competing Middle School Student at their desk in school (during structured class time if home schooled), not at home.
• Middle School – The competing schools Language Arts/English/Civics department will judge each entry on originality, sincerity and the student’s ability to convey thought. The Language Arts/English/Civics department may add such additional criteria as composition, spelling, and proper punctuation. ONLY ONE essay should be forwarded to Post 175 .
• Post Level –The winning essay from each Middle School will be mailed to the sponsoring American Legion Post contest Chairman ( Post 175 , Attn: Americanism Chair, 8700 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116 in the Declaration Form). Our Post’s Executive Committee shall select the best essay among the submissions received. ONLY ONE essay will be forwarded to the District .  
• District Level –  Each District will convene a panel of at least three (3) judges, chaired by their District’s Americanism or Essay Contest Chairman to select the best essay. ONLY ONE essay should be submitted per District.
• Department Level – The Department (State) Americanism Chairman will convene a panel of judges consisting of members of the Americanism Committee and/or other professionals, who will make the final selections.  
• Middle School/Home School – Each participating Middle School/Home School should mail their winning essay and declaration form to the Post 175 Chairman no later than the last day of the Middle School’s classes prior to Christmas vacation.
• Posts – Each participating Post will judge and mail their winning essay to the District Americanism Chairman or Middle School Essay Contest Chairman to arrive prior to their District’s Spring Conference.
• Districts – Each participating District will mail their winning essay with attached Declaration Form to: Americanism Committee Chairman, John Schenk in Norfolk, VA to arrive no later than  February 16, 2024 . Winners will be announced at the Department Spring Conference.
• The Middle School Language Arts/English/Civics Department which sends the winning essay to Post 175 receives an American Legion “Certificate of Participation” signed by the Post Commander and the Post Essay Chairman and a $50.00 check for the school’s use.
• The winning essay student at the Post Level is presented with an American Legion “Certificate of Appreciation” signed  by the Post Commander and the Post Essay Chairman and a $25.00 check.
• The winning essay student’s teacher receives a check from Post 175 in the amount of $25.00 to be used to assist in his/her purchase of classroom materials.
• The winning essay student from our District receives an American Legion “Certificate of Appreciation” signed by our District Commander and District Americanism Chairman or Middle School Essay Contest Chairman.
• The winning essay student receives a $50.00 check.
• The winning essay student’s Language Arts/English/Civics teacher receives a $50.00 check to go toward assisting in purchasing supplies and materials for their school’s department.
• The First Place Winner will receive a $250.00 check.
• The Second Place Winner will receive a $100.00 check.
• The Third Place Winner will receive a $50.00 check
• $50.00 check to winning essay student’s teacher.

The Post 175 Point of Contact (POC) is our Chair, Americanism Committee . 

Links of Interest :

Department of Virginia Essay Contest Home Page

Middle School Essay Contest Information (Printable)

Declaration Form (Accompanies Submission)

News and Information for Gloucester and Mathews, Virginia

Thursday, April 25, 2024 Vol. LXXXVII, no. 17 NEW SERIES

Home » Page MS student wins essay contest

Page MS student wins essay contest

American Legion Post 75, Gloucester, recently presented Middle School Essay Awards to Peyton Santiago of Page Middle School.

Santiago won first place in the Post 75 contest, first place in the district contest and came in second place overall for the entire state at the American Legion Department of Virginia Contest.

The student received awards and scholarship money for all of her contest wins and her teacher, Jennifer Hart-Brandt, also received certificates and classroom fund donations.

The American Legion Middle School Essay Contest takes place each year and asks students in grades 6-8 to write a one-page essay on “What I Like About Living in America.” ...

To view the rest of this article, you must log in. If you do not have an account with us, please subscribe here .

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Middle School Essay Contest

Sponsored by: American Legion, Department of Virginia

Apply Online

Applicants must be middle school students and write an essay on an assigned topic. The essay should be written at the student's desk during school time and will be evaluated based on originality, sincerity and the student's ability to communicate meaning.

Contact Information

American Legion, Department of Virginia American Legion, Department of Virginia 1708 Commonwealth Avenue Richmond, VA 23230 United States

Phone: (804) 353-6606 Fax: 804-358-1940 Official website

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The American Legion Department of Virginia

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Archive – 2018

The second international festival of light and media arts Kyiv Lights Festival (KLF) took place on May 18-20 in Kyiv with the support of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile network operator. The festival acquainted the Ukrainian public with dozens of artworks created by great video graphics designers, lighting artists, VJs and modern artists. Kyiv Lights Festival 2018 took place during the Days of Europe in Ukraine and was supported by the Kyiv City State Administration.

30 entries participated in the international 3D video mapping contest. They were created by artists from 19 countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Ukraine.

32 contestants participated in the international VJing contest. The artists came from 12 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, and Ukraine.

KLF 2018 also featured entries of Kyiv Lights Art Prize winners. The light installations were located in three venues in Kyiv downtown, namely Andriivskyi Descent, yard of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine and a garden near the Sahaidachnyi monument.

KLF 2018 also featured works of prominent video artists who created unique light installations specially for the festival. One of the brightest works was the multimedia installation “The Renaissance of Light” by Svitlana Reinish, a winner of the KLF-2017. Another highlight of the festival was a visual and audio installation ‘Luminiscence’ by Ricardo Cançado. It was presented to the public thanks to the support of the Embassy of Brazil in Ukraine.

A two-day educational program took place at Mironova gallery. It featured lectures on VJing, video mapping, modern architecture, and urban studies from renowned Ukrainian and foreign experts.

Winners of the VJ Contest

1-st Place Kasia Naj (KAT NAI) Poland

2-nd Place Ari Dykier Poland

3-rd Place ModiFICA (Marcelo Fica) Chile

Marcelo Fica, Ari Dykier, Kasia Naj

VIDEO GALLERY

3D MAPPING CONTEST

Jury – 2018

Romain Tardy

is a visual artist from France. He is a co-founder of the European visual label Antivj, which focuses on the use of projected light and its influence on our perception. Tardy’s installations pose questions about the role of digital technology in public space and address them poetically. His work has been exhibited in more than 15 countries.

Max Poberejskyy

is a Ukrainian visual artist, and a co-founder of the Tenpoint project which pioneered VJing in Ukraine. He co-founded the BLCK BOX studio and media art school, which is famous for its cooperation with the country’s top electronic projects and festivals.

is a visual artist from Barcelona. In 2011, he became a project manager at Onionlab, a Barcelona-based studio. There, he did such outstanding projects as Towards Biology (360º installation at the Venice Biennale 2014), Diplopia 3D at FIMG2015 (first stereoscopic mapping in Spain) and Room 5 (installation at Spain’s pavilion at the Milano Expo 2015).

Diana Civle

is a creative concept author and a curator of Riga`s light festival STARO RIGA since its foundation in 2008. Diana has extensive experience in implementing artistic programmes for large scale cultural events including the Riga 800 anniversary celebration (2001), Riga city Celebration, and Nuit Blanches.

Yuriy Chornenkyy

head of the marketing communications department at Kyivstar. Yuri’s portfolio encompasses the development of brands such as Kyivstar, Beck's, life, and Beeline Kz. He has been a jury member at the Effie and Wow Done awards, was named the best practice speaker at Effie, and has worked at KMFR, as a video|photo producer, and as a musician.

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© 2021 Kyiv Lights Festival. All Rights Reserved.

• Archive – 2018
• Archive – 2017

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These Dancers Escaped the War. Their Journeys Are Just Beginning.

Hundreds of ballet dancers and students fled Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. With opportunities scarce, many will have to keep moving if they want to keep dancing.

• Share full article

By Alex Marshall

AMSTERDAM — Kate Myklukha pushed herself up onto the tip of her left foot, then stretched her arms out in front of her as if hugging a tree.

As a pianist at the Dutch National Ballet here played a jaunty tune, several of Myklukha’s classmates wobbled from side to side, struggling to hold the delicate pose. But Myklukha held her balance, then spun around and dipped into a knee bend, before gracefully waving an arm skyward.

During that short sequence last month, Myklukha, 17, looked as if she had been a member of the ballet’s junior company for years. Yet, she had arrived in Amsterdam only two and a half weeks before, having escaped the war in Ukraine .

In an interview before the class, Myklukha said she was struggling not to think about what was happening in Ukraine. Whenever she heard a loud noise — from a passing train or a tram rushing through Amsterdam’s cobbled streets — she got scared, she said, reminded of bombs and sirens back home. Her grandparents were still in Kyiv, and she was worried about them.

But in class or onstage, she got a rare break from those thoughts. “I only think about dance,” she said. “It’s like therapy.”

Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had a vibrant ballet scene. There were five major theaters across the country, each with a ballet school, and other theaters and private academies too. Their graduates often headed to important companies, including the Royal Ballet in London and the Bolshoi in Moscow. Elena Filipieva, the ballet director of the now shuttered National Opera and Ballet Theater of Ukraine in Kyiv, said in an email that there were about 400 students studying at Kyiv’s two main schools when war broke out.

The invasion has upended the lives of many dancers, who have seen the war and its destruction close up. Some have taken up arms in their country’s defense or have been working to get medical supplies to the frontline. (One died after being injured when Russian shells hit Kyiv.) And many have fled the country, fanning out across Europe — both for safety and to keep dancing. Most of these have been women; Ukraine’s government in February barred men 18 to 60 from leaving .

Many dancers have yet to find a permanent home. But Oleksii Potiomkin, 33, a principal at the National Opera and Ballet Theater who spent time in Ukraine’s amateur defense forces , said from Lviv that it was good dancers had left to train. “They are the future of Ukraine,” he said. “It’s important to maintain the culture.”

When the war started, Myklukha was just a few months into her career as a soloist in at the National Opera and Ballet Theater in Kyiv. She had just danced as the princess in “The Snow Queen,” she said, and thought she had her “life planned for five years, or 10.” When the invasion began, she found herself stuck at home alone, until her mother traveled 20 hours from the eastern city of Kharkiv to be with her. At first they mostly stayed inside, listening to air raid sirens unless their dog needed a walk.

“We didn’t want to leave because it was our house, our whole life,” Myklukha said. But after a week, they decided they had to go, and took a train to Poland, standing for the whole two-day journey. Myklukha didn’t carry anything except her dog and a teddy bear, she said, because a bag would take up precious space on the train. In Amsterdam, dancers gave her clothes so she could take classes.

Many dancers have stories like Myklukha’s about leaving home, but she is among the lucky few to have found a new position abroad. Most are simply taking classes at companies like the Staatsballett Berlin and the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and performing in galas to raise money for Ukraine. Students, too, have landed in spots across Europe, but often find themselves without their parents or a permanent home.

Much of the help for Ukrainian dancers so far has been ad hoc. Christiane Theobald, the artistic director of the Staatsballett, said she started getting emails from dancers on the fourth day of the war, mainly asking if they could take classes for a few weeks to stay in shape. Soon, she’d received around 200 requests. “It was like an exodus,” she said.

Dancers have such short careers, Theobald added, that she felt compelled to help, not least because the Ukrainians had just lost a chunk of their performing lives to the pandemic.

Ted Brandsen, the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet, said two other Ukrainian dancers had joined his junior company alongside Myklukha: Polina Loshchylina , 18, who was also at Ukraine’s National Ballet in Kyiv before the war, and Victoria Glazunova , 19, who had just secured a dream contract at the Bolshoi but quickly decided she couldn’t face staying in Russia, got a bus to Finland, then stayed with friends in Italy before making it to the Netherlands.

Glazunova said if the Ukrainian dancers ever get to return home, they will have “improved so much” from dancing in companies across Europe. For now, she saw her future in Amsterdam trying to get into the Dutch National Ballet’s main company. All the Ukrainians there had the drive and skill to achieve that, she said: “We’re like workhorses. We work day and night.”

The Dutch National Ballet hired another Ukrainian, Liza Gorbachova , for its corps de ballet; and eight students — the youngest is 10 — have enrolled in its school. To help meet costs, which push the ballet far beyond its budget, the company started an appeal for funds.

Rachel Beaujean, the company’s associate artistic director, said that the dancers would have to prove they were good enough to stay in the long term. “At the end of the day,” she said, “we also have a responsibility to the company.”

But the academy will try to keep its students. “I don’t think they have to go through another change in their lives,” said Ernst Meisner, the artistic coordinator of the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company.

Much of the work of finding Ukrainian students new homes has been led by the New York-based Youth American Grand Prix , an organization that runs competitions to help dancers secure scholarships. It had been scheduled to hold its first-ever event in Ukraine in March. Larissa Saveliev, the organization’s co-founder and a former dancer with the Bolshoi, said that when Russia’s war began, she emailed the 50 or so dancers who had signed up to say, “If you want help, let me know.”

Soon, her cellphone number was being passed among dancers in Ukraine, and she was being called day and night, often by students who had arrived at the Polish border, alone, some without passports. Saveliev said they would simply ask, “Where should I go?” She tapped her contacts, then sent them around Europe to schools, including to La Scala in Milan and the John Cranko school in Stuttgart.

Some two months into the war, the calls haven’t stopped, Saveliev said. “At the start, it was a humanitarian effort,” Saveliev said. “All we were thinking was, ‘Let’s find these kids a bed.’ Now we have to think about their education.”

Saveliev said it was difficult to bring students to the United States because of the lengthy visa process, though she was able to place two students, who already had visas, in American schools. “We have at least 50 schools willing to host Ukrainian dancers; we just can’t get them here,” she said. “We’re trying.” (Britain’s ballet schools have also been unable to take on students, because of strict visa rules, Saveliev added.)

Despite the visa situation, at least one American ballet company is trying to help. On May 4, lawyers working for Miami City Ballet submitted a visa application for Yuliia Moskalenko , 28, a principal at Ukraine’s National Ballet, to join the company.

Lourdes Lopez, the Miami company’s Cuban-born artistic director, said in a phone interview that the visa process had been “long and complicated and difficult.” She’d had to hire immigration lawyers and get the support of Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, as well as a letter from the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky to prove to American authorities that Moskalenko was of “extraordinary ability,” the requirement for a dancer in circumstances like this. When Lopez received the “last piece of the puzzle” — a letter of support from the American Guild of Musical Artists — the lawyers were able to submit the application.

Lopez said she had done so much work because Ukrainian dancers risked being ignored in the war’s fallout. Dancers fleeing renowned Russian companies like the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky, in St. Petersburg, she said, “have that pedigree — they’ve got that stamp — that allows them to go anywhere.”

Moskalenko said in a telephone interview from Utrecht, the Netherlands, that she was taking class with two dozen other Ukrainian dancers hoping to perform at galas who had yet to secure contracts. She said she felt enormously lucky to get the Miami offer — “This opportunity came out of nowhere,” she said, “I had to catch it” — and hoped she could become an ambassador for Ukrainian ballet.

Weeks into her stay in Amsterdam, Myklukha said in a telephone interview that she was beginning to feel at home in the city. In April, she performed in “Raymonda” 11 times, and was rehearsing contemporary works far from her classical background, about to take part in a tour of the junior company.

She had heard that the Lviv National Opera in western Ukraine had started staging ballets again (it’s scheduled to perform a ballet gala on May 14 and “Giselle” on May 22 ) and thought Kyiv’s ballet companies could soon too.

She was excited that ballet seemed to be returning in her country already. “But I’m afraid to go there now,” she said, even if a chance to do a guest performance arose. “What do they need to do when an air raid calls?” she asked. “Where do they need to go and hide?” It wasn’t clear for whom they would perform or how many dancers would be in Ukraine to dance.

Asked if she dreamed of her homeland’s future, she said one picture came to mind. The war had ended, and all the buildings in Kyiv had been repaired. “I am with my family, together,” she said. “And it’s on Sunday because I have my day off, and we go to the park, and we eat ice cream.”

“But,” she added, “I don’t dream so often, now.”

Alex Marshall is a European culture reporter, based in London. More about Alex Marshall