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Student to chronicle life

Ivy Vogel

Far from her family, yet enjoying her new home in the Roaring Fork Valley, Olesya Bufan is getting a taste of America that she fought hard to obtain.Bufan, 16, of Ukraine, competed with 4,000 students from every country in the former Soviet Union for a chance to go to high school in the United States.The Future Leaders Exchange Program, which the U.S. State Department sponsors, tests student’s ability to speak English, asks psychological questions and gives the students physical examinations. Bufan was one of 17 students to qualify.”I chose a state and family according to my interests, and now I’m here in Colorado having a wonderful experience, which I’m going to share with you in my column,” Bufan said.Bufan will join Cassidy Willey and Nicole Loschke as a Post Independent student columnists.Bufan goes to Rifle High School and will write about her experiences in Colorado and Garfield School District Re-2. Bufan will write an article the third Tuesday of every month.”I love to describe my thoughts on paper,” Bufan said. “No matter that it has to be in a foreign language.”Bufan is staying with the Gentry family. Danny Gentry is the assistant principal at Rifle High School.When she’s not writing – Bufan and a friend founded a weekly newspaper that she said is successful in Ukraine – she’s skiing, taking pictures, traveling or dancing.Contact Ivy Vogel: 945-8515, ext. 534ivogel@postindependent.com


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