The newest student at Palisades Charter High School took quite the journey to get to Los Angeles.
Illia Ishchenko Leshchynskyi, 14, lived in Kiev until about a month ago, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed that.
“I had a lot of friends, every day it was so good time, I love it. but now we have war,” the teen said. “It’s impossible. When you wake up with rockets near your house, that’s scary and unbelievable.”
Illia’s father stayed behind to fight, and his mother and younger brother remained nearby, but Illia was smuggled out of the country by a family priest, who hid Illia in the back of a pickup truck headed to Romania.
“It’s unreal now and so dangerous for every guy who is in Ukraine now. You can’t just walk around your neighborhood or something, because it’s just unreal,” he said.
Illia’s aunt and uncle live in Los Angeles, and they got him a flight to SoCal.
“We were relieved that he was able to actually escape,” said Eugene Jang, Illia’s uncle.
Illia said getting the chance to attend school in the U.S. is a “dream” that came true. He starts at Palisades Charter High School on Monday.
“In this case, this student is absolutely considered more or less homeless because he’s displaced, looking for a place that would be a good home school for him, so we were able to make those arrangements quickly,” Palisades Principal Pam Magee said.
To donate to Illia, visit his GoFundMe.