Ukrainian refugee children will lose scholarships when state Invest in Kids program ends

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Nearly 100 students at a school in Ukrainian Village, many of whom are Ukrainian refugees, are set to lose scholarships once a statewide program expires.

Nearly half of the students at St. Nicholas Cathedral School depend on the scholarships. One mother who fled Ukraine with her 8-year-old daughter Amina said without the scholarship, they don't have many other options.

"She made a few friends and that is easier for kids, but she still misses her dad," said her mother Natalia Melnyk.

Amina hasn't seen her father in two years. Her mother said they were forced to flee their home without him. After bouncing around countries, she was able to enroll Amina at St. Nicholas through the Invest in Kids Act scholarship program.

"It's survival for people and that is why this is the best place because there is a big Ukrainian community here," she said.

Amina is now one of 96 students and 57 Ukrainian refugees that will lose her scholarship at the end of the year after opponents of the program argued it takes money away from public schools.

"The Ukrainian community's tapped out that we're in, you know, two full years of this war," said Anna Cirilli, principal.

Cirilli said the school has until June 1 to raise nearly half a million dollars or her students in need will lose one of the only places they see and hear their culture.

"They can walk into the front office and ask for a Band-Aid in Ukrainian and the secretary is going to know what they're saying," she said.

The loss of the scholarship program is fording the archdiocese to close two other schools in Chicago, but Cirilli said the loss here goes beyond school walls.

"We're gonna make sure that they can stay because if they go back there's no telling what would happen," she said.

If you would like to support the school's mission to keep scholarships for their kids in needs, you can visit their fundraising effort by clicking here.