August 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Maybe our favorite episode ever. Our OLD pal (emphasis on the OLD), Mike Newcome introduces us to two very impressive students from Ukraine, Alisa and Dasha are about as impressive as two 16-year olds could be. Wow!
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(00:11):
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
Bring that down.
In turn, John Schweiss engineer.
Here with, uh, Steve Brown.
Hey, Jeff Hoffman, our, I guesshe's been promoted to engineer
from intern officially.
Thanks, Steve.
Kevin Gorg is unable to be withus because it's another night at
(00:33):
Canterbury that he has to workat, and tonight we are gonna get
right after it.
We have one of my favoritepeople from high school and from
college.
Loved this guy.
Haven't seen him in ages, andthen discovered that he lives
right in our community.
Probably a better part of thecommunity than ours, but That's
okay.
(00:53):
Welcome Mike Newcomb.
Oh my gosh.
People are gonna be so excitedto hear that we got Mike
Newcomb.
Yeah.
Just the fact that you, thatyou're upright and taking
nourishment.
Well, I made it through highschool.
I made it through college.
Yeah.
You and, and you.
You've survived and you seem tohave done okay for yourself.
I married well, you marriedwell.
Yep.
You're wearing flip flops.
(01:13):
I mean, life seems to be prettygood.
Birkenstock, you don't have muchgray hair going on.
We're not sure if that's acoloring situation or what the
deal is.
All natural.
All natural.
But as this is the KindnessChronicles, one of our
objectives is to uncover storiesof kindness and nothing could be
more closer to an American'sheart than the relationship that
we have with Ukraine.
(01:34):
Now we don't often talk aboutpolitics on the Kindness
Chronicles, but I think it'ssafe to say that uh, 99% of, uh,
America is in great support ofthe Ukrainians.
And we just happen to have a guywho has hosted a number of
Ukrainian students.
In fact, two of them are heretoday.
We got a full house Uhhuh, wehave Alisa, and we have Aasha.
(01:59):
Just Dasha, not Aasha or Daria.
Or Daria.
Well, that's pretty El Aliciatoo, isn't there?
Oh, Elisa.
No, Elisa.
Elisa.
Elisa.
Sorry.
Quit engineer.
I'm just know your place.
I'm right there.
Okay.
So anyways, Mr.
Newcomb, tell us how is it thatyou learned of this program and
how did you get involved with itand.
(02:19):
It just seems like such a, uh, alovely opportunity.
Sure.
Fir First of all, I'm a, a rideron this bus.
Yeah.
I am not, I'm not the founder ofthis program.
Right.
I am a, a rider, participants.
I'm a participant in a passengeron a bigger bus of some really
kind people, but how we gotinvolved is my son Max.
(02:41):
Whom just, I know Max, whom justgraduated from Maita this year.
His best friend was a young manby the name of Yuan.
Oh yeah.
He is also a, uh, from Ukraine.
Yep.
I'm familiar.
And he had come on this programcalled Yu Lead, uh, three years
ago.
And he came for a five weekprogram and traveled all over
(03:04):
just like the girls did, andthen went back to Ukraine.
He wanted so desperately to comeback here and go to school and
he ended up coming back with hisbrother, who's 10 years older
than him and they moved to Eddi.
Yep.
In the apartments by the DairyQueen.
Yeah.
He got into Eddi High School,Mr.
(03:24):
My Miley, Mr.
Miles.
Mr.
Miley, greatest counselor in OMIhistory, and he happened to be
my son's counselor.
Got him in, got him started.
He ended up going to school hisjunior year.
In his senior year, he becamebest friends with my max.
Yep.
And they started hanging out andhe, Yuan has been living with,
well his, he was here in the,his junior year at Christmas
(03:49):
time, his brother decided thathe no longer wanted to be.
Uh, in America.
He was having a hard timeadjusting.
Sure.
And then ended up going backhome to Poland.
Okay.
'cause by that time, his familyhad been so displaced because
he's actually been in an areawhere the war in Ukraine was
going on since 2014.
Oh, good.
And so he's in the Dumbos,Donbas Donbas Oh boy.
(04:11):
Area.
And so his family had beendisplaced for a long time.
Oh boy.
When his brother left, he reallyhad no other options.
He was in the high school andthis wonderful host family.
Who hosted him for his five weekYou lead program said, you know
what?
You come stay with us.
Wonderful.
So Steve and Sherry, who liveright down the street here from
(04:33):
you, the nicest people I've met.
Have hosted him for the lastyear and a half.
Okay.
And my son came to me and said,Hey dad, Julian would love to
spend a week or two this summerat our house.
Hanging out at the pool.
It's my last year here.
And I said, okay, great.
Well, that was two and a halfmonths ago.
Okay.
Yuan is now officially Yuan,Newcomb, Yuan, Newcomb.
(04:57):
Um, he just ate$30 worth of our,uh, fresh fruit.
G we just came home girls and hewas gorging himself on our fresh
fruit.
And, uh.
He is, he is currently inbetween a program, so he was
here under this youth programand then that ended, so he can't
work right now.
So I was able to get him aninternship, a non-paid
(05:17):
internship with a startupcompany that I was helping
advise.
And he's now living with us intothe, uh, foreseeable future.
And his goal is in September orOctober to get into a new
program.
That will allow him to go to theUniversity of Minnesota'cause he
is been accepted.
Oh.
And until then, he's just, he'sliving in our, one of our rooms
and the girls are in a Jack anda Jill and the other half and,
(05:40):
and then my 15-year-old wasliving underneath the stairs
until my 18-year-old ended up incollege.
But that's how I, at hisgraduation at Steven, she, who,
I don't know their last name,but they're the nicest people in
town.
I met Irena and Richard.
Who lead this program.
Oh, okay.
Called you lead and we just gottalking.
(06:02):
Is it just Minnesota?
This, it's just Minnesota.
Okay.
So it's just a, these are thebus drivers.
Got it.
Got it.
These are the real kindness.
These are the people that youshould be talking to, not me.
Yeah, absolutely.
And maybe at some point you can,does do Steve and Sherry have
children in Monte?
They do.
And they were a little, theiryoungest Sam is, it's Steve and
Sherry.
Clydesdale, yeah, that, I thinkthat's right.
(06:22):
Sam and Ben.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's it.
Yeah.
Baseball player.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what's their, what's theirname?
Steven Sherry Clydesdale.
Oh, got it.
And I know Sherry, I could callher right now.
In fact, I probably could.
She's been, she's the nicestlady.
She is.
She's a delight.
She, and, uh, I think she's beenhosting people for years.
Yep.
Absolutely.
And Yuan is, I think they're.
Uh, sad that he wanted a, uh, achange.
(06:43):
Not because he doesn't lovethem.
No, no, it was because he had abuddy with a pool.
With a pool, you know, andapparently there's a couple cute
16 year olds from Ukraine movingin.
Well, we keep them separate.
Very good decision.
Another question, Mike, is it,uh, is it also only Manai that,
that this organization or?
No.
Okay, so it's, oh, no, this is,got it.
Yeah, this is, well, they happento live, so Richard and Irena.
(07:06):
Uh, live in Maplewood.
So their, sphere of influencehappens to kind of be the east
side here.
Got it.
Northeast side, um, of town.
But they have, uh, a couple kidsliving in, uh, Eden Prairie, uh,
right now in Eden Prairie with ahost family, Brooklyn Park
they're up at.
Okay.
And so that's how they just kindof were there and I was dumb and
(07:27):
opened my mouth and I said, ohyeah, this is, it looks cool.
And then I got an email and theysaid, Hey.
Welcome.
Well, Sherry's actually talkedto me because she knew that we
had, uh, au pairs from all overthe world that lived with us.
Maybe next year you can hostbecause they've been doing this
now, this is the fifth yeargirls.
That they've had the You Leadprogram.
(07:47):
Okay.
And it's, is it normally fiveweeks?
Yes.
That they get to spend.
Okay.
And originally, well, they were,uh, uh, four days late because
they're visas.
They were having a hard time inPoland getting their visas.
And so they, these, the girlswere at a camp in Poland for two
weeks.
And then had to extend that byalmost another week because at
the US Embassy there werethings, it's just dragging their
(08:08):
feet.
And then they, they got it, andthen they flew here on a
Wednesday and they've been hereever since.
Now they're in the second weekof their program where every
day, uh, this week is aboutnonprofits.
Okay.
So they're going to, theystarted off, um, what was
yesterday?
Where were you?
Um, let's, anyways, they startedat a different place yesterday
and now.
Today they were at Pros Tech.
(08:30):
Which is the, prosthetic thingthat happens to be run and
organized by Ukrainians.
That's how I got into it,through other people.
So here's what we're gonna do,Mike, you clearly have a knack
for talking into a mic where wecan hear you.
Why don't you, uh, interviewyour friends here and just, take
us through the program.
(08:51):
We're gonna give them the mics,we're gonna give them the
headphones.
You, uh, you ask'em thequestions that need to be asked.
They're very good at talking andanswering questions.
Okay.
These are two of the most stoic.
young women you're ever gonnahear.
So my question is this, Dasha,how did you find out about you
lead, and then what did it meanfor you to be chosen?
(09:15):
thank you for asking thisquestion.
So, as for me, I learned aboutthe program from my student
body.
Uh, we met in, uh, 2023 and webecame Study body because we
wanted to learn English becauseling English is, uh, the second
language and it's, uh, the opendoors, which is the key for the
future.
So, uh, she was last year in,uh, 2024.
(09:39):
And she was so crazy about thisprogram because this program
literally changed her life She,after the program, she just told
me everything about non-profits,government, all this stuff.
And I was so much interest inthis because leadership for me
means a lot.
I feel chosen because.
For me, be a leader means to bean empowered, to be an example
(10:04):
in my community, in my city.
So my city is not, uh, developedenough and my mission here is to
gain lots of, like lots ofknowledge as much as I can and
to implement that because useleadership future is what
motivates me to keep going andto start a day.
And, and what city are you from?
(10:24):
I'm from Nepro.
This is the city in the eastpart of Ukraine.
Yep.
Yeah.
Very nice.
And one of the important thingsto, to keep in mind, this whole
You Lead program was developedbecause sadly, the leaders in
Ukraine, the mayors, the citycouncil people, they're involved
in the war.
And sadly, they all went off towar.
(10:45):
They're not there.
And so they're trying to developthe future leaders, and that's
where Irena and Richard.
Uh, have, are the true championsof finding what I would call the
best of the best.
These kids had to make itthrough deep interviews, uh,
essays, and, uh, there'sthousands of people that wanna
(11:07):
get these slots.
And you're seeing two of 15, andthat's why you, you heard her
talk.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, the fact that you'reEnglish and I mean, you're 16
years old.
Yeah.
How long have you been speakingEnglish?
Well, I started learning Englishin my fifth grade because for
the fourth grade we didn't haveany English at all.
(11:28):
And from the fifth grade we hadthree lessons per week.
And so when I became, uh, when Icame to ninth grade, I was so
interested in, uh, becoming likefluent English.
So I come to extracurricular.
So extra English, we psda anduh, we spent most of the time
reading, listening because, youknow, English as a second
(11:50):
language is really difficult.
And, uh, as theself-development, I was really
interested in getting better andbetter that I was just.
On my own.
I just have to ask this, do youwatch like American sitcoms?
Yeah, I love them.
Like friends.
Have you watched friends?
I love them.
So I, our au pairs talked abouthow one of the ways that they
learned English was by watchingAmerican sitcoms Yeah.
(12:14):
With subtitles for the, in, inthe language that they speak.
So they would hear it and theywould see it.
Let's, uh, let's talk to Elisa.
So Elisa, my, uh, kind of thesame question.
How did you, uh, end up at thisU Lead program?
Give a little background.
Okay.
Thank you so much for asking.
And actually, our stories withDaria are pretty similar because
my best friend who I met in2023, long time ago, right.
(12:38):
Uh, it's Maria Riko.
She was a participant from thelast year and.
I just saw it on her Instagramstories and then it turned out
that we organized and it wenttogether in Giv and she was
like, oh, Elisa.
Today we'll mostly talk aboutopportunities for youth here
have here we had someone, whitespeakers from Ivy League.
Yeah.
(12:58):
And also we were talking aboutthe you lead as an opportunity
for youth and she was like,Lisa, you definitely need to
apply.
Like I'm waiting for yourapplication.
You must apply here.
I was like, oh, okay.
So firstly, I did not expectgetting here at all.
And then I passed the firstround, the second round, and
finally it came out of, it cameout to interview.
(13:19):
I was like, oh, okay.
And then me and Daria, wereceived this letters.
Dear candidate, we are thrilledto inform me that you became the
finalist of the U Lead program.
Yeah, so this how we end upgetting here.
Yeah.
And how I feel, actually, I feelextremely motivated because here
already in two weeks we gained alot of this American experience
(13:43):
and that's what I really want toimplement in my community.
Yeah.
Because there tons of things tolearn, tons of things to learn
from, like from American.
So, yeah, that's it.
And talk about the story, how Ilearned English.
Well, the same for me.
I started learning English ingrade five, but uh, until grade
nine, my English level would beterrible.
(14:03):
Like it was elementary.
It was a one.
The only thing that I could saywas, hello, my name is Lisa.
My age is.
It was 13 the time.
Yeah.
And it was like, no, it can't belike that anymore.
And then the war started and Imoved to transcript region and I
didn't have any friends here.
It was so boring there.
(14:23):
So it was like, why not startingstudying like it's perfect time
to start.
So basically that's how westarted learning English.
I just started watchingeverything in English, doing
Duolingo.
Um.
Participating in some otherprograms.
So yeah, that's basically howit's, yeah.
And where are you from?
I'm from Kiev.
So one of the things that welearned today is that Kiev was
(14:45):
sort of the Russianpronunciation.
Kiev is the Ukrainianpronunciation.
So we're going with Kiev, right?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
That's the one that we like.
Um.
A couple of things.
Can we talk about the war?
Of course.
One of the things that we hearhere in America is that, so many
of the men of a certain age haveleft to go fight for their
(15:07):
country.
And the number of deaths is justincredible.
Do you notice that there areless men than women in the areas
that you live in?
So, um, if we're talking aboutwomen and men, mostly men are
fighting, but women help too.
Uh, of course the rest, somesoldiers who are women, but they
(15:28):
mostly help with, uh, nursingand volunteering, like providing
our solars with medicine.
Other aids.
Yeah, so basically we want helpin this fear not fighting, I
would say.
You?
Yeah, they have a lot of, um,let's say part in their war in
the Helping Soldiers, becauseall the time they are with
(15:49):
soldiers.
They all the time getting firstaid nursery food.
They always with soldiers.
So if we're saying about, um, ifwe notice how many less men we
notice in the real life, yeah,this is it because, uh, many
women.
Have to take men's job.
(16:09):
Yeah.
'cause they have to, they haveno choice.
But this is that I'm proud ofbecause women are actually the
gender that showed from the warthat they can do it.
You bet.
Well, and some of the women,they'll show, the women that are
dressed in the uniforms of thearmy, the Ukrainian army.
And those women looked like theycould beat the crap outta any
(16:31):
one of us.
Sure.
They are some badass women.
Um, John, keep in mind boththeir dads are involved in the
military.
Yeah.
Tell us about that.
So they've, they're, they'vejoined the military as well.
Who, whose dad was a journalistbefore the war mine.
So yeah.
Elisa's dad was a journalistbefore the war.
Really?
And then he's been basicallydrafted.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And he's, he's been going'causehe's not in the home full time.
Correct.
And so again, some of it's alittle bit touchy for'em.
It's, well, it has to be, well,and especially after today
because they were at, is it ProsTech Pro, PROEs PROEs, which is.
Where Ukrainian soldiers rightnow are in Minnesota, in Oakdale
(17:14):
being fitted for prosthetics andthe girls and the rest of their
team spent the entire day therewith them.
Wow.
All day.
Meeting with the soldiers.
Talking with the soldiers.
I, you saw some of the picturesof them fixing the prosthetics,
so they've had a real emotionalday.
Kind of a up and down.
Sure.
And they see their heroesAbsolutely.
(17:36):
Who are, are fighting, but theyalso have to think that.
Um, their family's still there.
Oh.
Fighting.
You know, and then, uh, we weretalking about how they have, uh,
an app on their phone, which is,you know, our kids have TikTok.
They have an app that lets themknow when a missile's coming in.
So let's talk about that for asecond.
You know, where you live.
(17:56):
Have you experienced, missilesand the chaos of war?
Sure.
On a daily basis?
Say that again?
On a daily basis.
On a daily basis.
We are so sheltered here inAmerica.
I can't even wrap my head aroundwhat that must be like, what I
was saying about the school.
So Dasha is on a hybridschedule.
(18:18):
When she gets back, she'll be ona hybrid schedule.
And I said, oh, that'sinteresting.
Why?
Oh, because uh, some kids go toschool this week and then other
kids go this week.
And I was like, oh, great.
She says, well, because atschool we only have so many
shelters, so if there's incomingmissiles.
They can only fit so many kidsin the shelter.
So one week grade three, four,and five go to school.
(18:39):
And then the next week, six,seven, and eight go.
Because when stuff comes in theycan shelter themselves in.
And I thought, oh, okay.
We had hybrid over COVID.
Right.
Understood.
Yeah.
Minnesota people count yourblessings.
Yeah.
My gosh.
Yeah.
So yeah.
So can I ask both of you soundlike you're ready for college
tomorrow?
I mean, you both are very.
(19:00):
Very, obviously, very bright.
You guys are ready forleadership.
What's the next step for both ofyou?
Let's start with you, Dasha.
Like what, what is your goal?
What would you like to do?
Okay, so, and how can we help?
As for me, I'm thinking about,uh.
Having the bachelor degree inadvocacy and also in what?
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
(19:20):
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So I like the way you said itbetter.
It sounds much moresophisticated.
Yeah.
I have a story in advocacy, whyI'm so interested in advocacy.
So Manice is really interestedin policy Officer.
She wants to be a policeofficer.
And how old is she?
She's 18.
Okay?
(19:41):
Mm-hmm.
So, uh, when her time began andshe finished her high school
degree and she wanted to take onthe old next step, uh, all of
her friends, all of herrelatives were against it.
And I stood by her because Ithink that your idea, your
passion, your choices, becauseyour choices really cement a
(20:03):
lot.
If you good to me, if you makegood choices, you have good
choices.
And once she getting the policytrainings, we, we pass it
together.
Because I think that when youhave someone next to you, when
someone supports you, you betit's the best.
You bet.
Yeah.
And once she get in the PolicyAcademy.
(20:25):
And she finished it.
I think that, uh, it put fire inme to fight for justice, to
fight for what's best, what'sright for people.
So I'm thinking about advocacy.
And would you, will you go toschool in Ukraine?
I thinking of taking a gap year.
Okay.
I'm thinking of G Gear because Ithink that this is the year that
(20:48):
I will make a batch applicationand I will be much more sure
about my path.
So gap year and then college.
I'm just, listen, it'sunbelievable.
You're, you're, we're, we'regetting 5% of this.
They, they're gonna take a gapyear so that she can build her
resume for Right.
Getting into a college, which isjust another example of how,
(21:12):
forgive me for saying this.
Many American 16 year olds don'thave a clue.
They're so entitled.
And the fact that you understandthat by taking that gap year is
gonna give you the opportunityto build your resume.
I hate to say it, but themajority of the 16 year olds
that I know, well, of course Idon't need to do that.
(21:35):
I should, I should just get itbecause, you know, I It's just
they're not looking past the oneyear.
They're only 17.
So at the end of this year, theywere technically in the US be
gonna go into their senior year.
So this gap year for them isstudying, getting ready because
they, these are Harvard boundyoung kids.
They're, they're being modest.
(21:55):
Where did you learn that?
So what, let's look, I had a, wedon't have gotta talk into the
mic.
I loved what you said about, um.
Uh, good choices helped me makebetter choices.
Where did you learn that from?
So I have the best trust fatherthat, oh boy.
That we have.
Oh boy.
Is that how you had that writtenup for him, Mike?
(22:16):
No.
We have the best eveningsbecause, um, when we came from
the program, we have talks.
We have talks what we've learnedfrom today because it's really
important to technologists, tothrough the life and to not
forget about it.
And so here I'm just sittingnext to the best and just
fabulous host, brother host.
(22:38):
Well, you had good host brotherstoo.
Yeah.
Well, and Mike looks youngenough to be a host brother.
Well, the true, this is true thetruth, and this is a shout out
to my son Max, who did it.
He, he was the speaker at hisgraduation in his speech.
Of course he was.
Yeah, of course he was.
It's just I was the biggestloser in high school.
You were not, you were notcracked.
(22:59):
No, but it cracks me up that Maxwas.
You know, one, two, or three?
Yeah.
I'm not sure that we wouldcomment.
I'm not sure that we would'vehad you, as valedictorian.
Salutatorian.
No.
Popular guy.
Yeah.
Popular.
Yes.
Academically scraping by.
But no, ma Max was gave the, uh,the class, the commencement
address.
Commencement address.
Good for you for EDI this year,his speech was about choices.
(23:22):
If you make good choices, you'llhave choices.
Go get, you know, go get me.
Oh my God.
And so his whole thing, thatshould be on a sign somewhere.
Well, they, they put it in thewhite bear press.
So they did the wholetranscribed it, put it in the
press, in the whole, took thewhole section, whatever the
editorial side was.
Took out a couple of his jokes,but left the body of it.
And the gist of it was that ifyou make, and this has been my
(23:43):
mantra to him for since he wasborn, absolutely.
That if you make good choices inlife, you'll have choices.
You don't let the world tell youwhat you're gonna be.
You tell the world what you'regonna be.
Right?
And just, so we talked aboutthat just as an FYI, uh, we
haven't talked about this, butMax Newcomb was one of our
selfless scholar, recipients.
He was nominated by Max Egan.
(24:04):
Totally small world coincidence.
I get this.
They, he gets selected and I'mlooking at the names and I'm
like.
Max Newcomb.
I, I wonder if that's MikeNewcomb.
So I went on Facebook and sureenough he's got all these
pictures and he's referring toSon Max., That's gotta be the
kid.
These newcombs just keep poppingup in our world here.
Kind Chronicles, Newcomb, uh,which is funny because I had no
(24:25):
idea about it.
So, Alyssa, tell us about you.
What, what is your plan?
What do you want to do in thefuture?
Okay, so, um, actually I'mthinking about getting my
bachelor's degree here in the USand I was interested about
getting my bachelor's degreehere from the grade eight tell
'em what school you want to goto.
(24:45):
Yeah.
Um, okay, so here's kinda a bigstory actually.
I think I was interested inapplying here into the US since
I was like a kid because myuncle lives here in the US and
they used to come.
Come to Ukraine right when therewas no war.
And they were like, so we'rewaiting for you to come to the
Yes.
And they always motivated mewith that.
So I started build, working onmy profile since grade eight or
(25:09):
nine.
But then I wasn't sure about mysphere.
Like I used to try all theactivities, like from
volunteering to like runningsome projects, you know?
And this year I applied tolaunch X program, which is.
All about entrepreneurship andbusiness, and that was the
turning point.
I realized that this is mysphere.
(25:31):
I want to connect my life withit.
Then I did some pro, did someprograms at Stanford University.
Yeah, and I really, really likethat.
So currently I want to get mybachelor's degree in business
administration here in the us.
Yeah, that's really motivating.
And, and what school do you wantgo to?
Um, actually my list, my collegelist contains 30 universities,
(25:53):
but my dream school is Stanfordand Babson.
What, what is what?
Babson.
Babson and Stanford?
Yeah.
Oh, Stanford?
Yeah.
Stanford.
Oh, good.
You were thinking Sanford?
No, no.
I heard Stanford.
Okay.
Well, good luck.
That's a, a tough one to getinto.
And the other impressive thingis that Elisa already has a
(26:16):
business that she's been workingon with some people in, uh,
Ukraine.
And the business is puttingtogether a study guide.
On for young Ukrainians ofbasically how to become
entrepreneurs, because she wasexplaining to me that in Ukraine
there's kind of a hangover fromthe former Soviet Union where
(26:38):
people don't think about beingbusiness owners, right?
And your parents will tell you,no, no, no.
You go to work.
You go work here, you go workthere.
So they don't have the supportfrom the parents because a lot
of them, their parents were fromthe Soviet era.
And so she's created a, uh, acoursework and a, a thing for,
(26:58):
was it a four week or three weekor.
Five week, five week program forwhere you start this program and
you learn about how to be anentrepreneur, what it's all
about.
They have mentors involved, andthey're gonna be in Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, I mean, I, I heardthis story.
I was, I don't know if I've everfelt, and you're 16, so
inadequate in my life.
(27:18):
This is, it's your host dad, youknow, is an entrepreneur.
But he wasn't an entrepreneurwhen he was 16, I can tell you
that.
No, not at their, not to theextent of these guys.
He was a salesman at the age of16 ways.
Career mindsets.
What's that?
He had his mindset.
He did have his mindset.
Mindset.
Very much so, yes.
Okay.
I just need to say, you ladiesare obviously incredibly
(27:41):
impressive and inspiring andyou, you guys represent why we
are doing this show and whowe're trying to highlight.
You as well, Mike and your wife,and your son and your family
for, for extending this kindnessto people like this in the world
that could use this kinda help.
It's amazing.
And I just wanna thank you forbeing here and listening to,
(28:01):
and, and telling us about, uh,what you're all about.
It's really, it means a lot tous that you're here.
I know it's only been a littlewhile since you've been here,
and it sounds like you've,you've had a, a, a good
experience with America.
How about any, to make it lighthere, but is there, is there
anything about Minnesotaspecifically that you're
noticing that you'd like to,that you're finding interesting
or appreciative?
(28:22):
Thanks for asking.
Actually, I was impressed of howkind people are here.
Like I was in shock becauseeverybody is eager to help you.
They're eager to contributesomething to this society
because recently me and Daria,we had a situation, so we were
waiting for our host mom in aneighborhood and we were just
like looking around for the car.
We were just waiting and therewas a woman, she was just riding
(28:45):
her car and she was like, girls,aren't you lost?
Are you okay?
And I was like, wow, this woman,like we're not acquainted.
Like we're just strangers andshe cares about us.
Wow.
She didn't offer you candy, didshe?
Because that's a bad sign.
No, she says, Hey, I've got somepuppies in my car to show you.
Don't go to the car.
Yeah.
We know the situation, so No, itwas not like that.
(29:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
People are super kind here andthat's really impressive.
Well, a great example is ourhost family.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Let's see.
Mm-hmm.
Let's hear it for Mr.
New and Family said.
Uh, I am a passenger on a busbeing driven.
Yeah.
And I, you know what, and that'sby other people.
And that's the kind of humilityand I'm glad I'm here.
(29:29):
Yeah.
You know?
So the state fair, you have thestate fair you're going
tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Yep.
That will be an experience.
Um, have some experience.
Yeah.
Have you talked to them aboutthe foods that they're gonna
want to consume?
I just said you're gonna seethe, the best in the worst of
Minnesota.
I'll tell you.
All wrapped up in one place thatthe people watching is gonna be
(29:49):
great.
There's nothing I was at the.
Fair.
Last night I went with KevinGorg.
Yeah.
And we sat there and we decidedlet's create our Mount Mount
Rushmore.
You guys familiar with MountRushmore?
It's a, it's a mountain that hasfour famous president's heads on
it.
And it's a way of kind ofdescribing who are the craziest
looking people that we saw here.
(30:11):
It was so easy'cause everyfourth or fifth person looked
like a lunatic.
And it happened to be DefLeppard was the band that was
playing.
Yeah.
Which is, are you familiar withDef Leppard the band?
There was an interesting, it wasan interesting group of people
there.
I would suggest that you takesome Tums, you guys know Tums
for stomach aches?
(30:31):
These are smart kids.
Any final questions?
Jeff, you must have one.
I just have a plug if you'rehere long enough.
And, um, Mike, if you've everbeen to Kumar Checks in
Northeast Minneapolis, have youalready?
Okay, that's a good, authentic,uh, per any of our listeners, if
you want some Ukrainian food.
That's good.
Um, any cultural, fun, culturalexperiences, Mike?
(30:54):
That.
It's sort of been you, you'reall in the same house.
Is there any fun stories thathave come out of it?
You've already talked about theteaching of the swear words and
stuff.
That's pretty funny.
Any other good meaningful kindstories that have come out of
two cultures merging into onehere?
I, it to me, why I wanted to bepart of this program was so that
(31:15):
my boys would be exposed to.
Young ladies like this.
Honestly, it's been more, Imean, the impact on me is.
Uh, I can't even, uh, speak onit just because it's changed my
entire perspective, but to havemy, to have the girls and I said
it's real important for my15-year-old.
He just loves these guys.
'cause it's like he has sistersand they sit in the kitchen and
(31:38):
laugh and, and learn swearwords, and learn swear words and
they teach'em.
For me, it's just more.
I love, I'm a sponge and I loveto absorb, and I've just been
absorbing and they're inspiringto me.
And, and again, if the rest ofthese people, and I went to this
program and I, I met all thesepeople and I said, boy, I'm, I'm
(32:00):
doing nothing.
I mean, I'm doing nothing.
And I, you know, I, I am a quietdoer.
I usually don't.
Talk about stuff, but thesepeople are just the greatest
people and they're just doing it'cause they are great.
They're what everything you guyswanna always promote and talk
about.
They are the kindnessChronicles.
(32:20):
Go ahead.
I I was just, and I'll, I'llturn it back to John, but.
Thank you.
I'll, I'll echo uh, Steve'sappreciation for you being here
'cause it, it is inspiring.
I do think we in the UnitedStates, because we haven't had
to dodge bombs and deal with warand things like that, we do have
a sense of entitlement and maybean, a lack of understanding of
(32:41):
the evil that really is, can bea part of this world.
So I do think it takesambassadors like yourself coming
here.
And so I just encourage youshare these stories with us.
'cause that's how we learn.
Thanks for being on the podcast.
Thanks, John.
Once again, very grateful thatyou guys, uh, took the time to
come here.
So great to meet you both.
Uh.
You know, if you're ever tryingto get into a school in
(33:02):
Minnesota, I think Mike and Imight be able to help you out.
I'm not sure if these clownswill be able to help, but, uh,
but anyways, uh, thank you forcoming in.
Best wishes for the rest of yourprogram good luck with your
entrepreneurship and youradvocacy.
And, looking forward to, uh,hearing where things go.
And with that, off we go.
(33:29):
They shut her down.
Shut her down.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
Bring that down.
In turn, John Schweiss engineer.
Here with, uh, Steve Brown.
Hey, Jeff Hoffman, our, I guesshe's been promoted to engineer
from intern officially.
Thanks, Steve.
Kevin Gorg is unable to be withus because it's another night at
(00:33):
Canterbury that he has to workat, and tonight we are gonna get
right after it.
We have one of my favoritepeople from high school and from
college.
Loved this guy.
Haven't seen him in ages, andthen discovered that he lives
right in our community.
Probably a better part of thecommunity than ours, but That's
okay.
(00:53):
Welcome Mike Newcomb.
Oh my gosh.
People are gonna be so excitedto hear that we got Mike
Newcomb.
Yeah.
Just the fact that you, thatyou're upright and taking
nourishment.
Well, I made it through highschool.
I made it through college.
Yeah.
You and, and you.
You've survived and you seem tohave done okay for yourself.
I married well, you marriedwell.
Yep.
You're wearing flip flops.
(01:13):
I mean, life seems to be prettygood.
Birkenstock, you don't have muchgray hair going on.
We're not sure if that's acoloring situation or what the
deal is.
All natural.
All natural.
But as this is the KindnessChronicles, one of our
objectives is to uncover storiesof kindness and nothing could be
more closer to an American'sheart than the relationship that
we have with Ukraine.
(01:34):
Now we don't often talk aboutpolitics on the Kindness
Chronicles, but I think it'ssafe to say that uh, 99% of, uh,
America is in great support ofthe Ukrainians.
And we just happen to have a guywho has hosted a number of
Ukrainian students.
In fact, two of them are heretoday.
We got a full house Uhhuh, wehave Alisa, and we have Aasha.
(01:59):
Just Dasha, not Aasha or Daria.
Or Daria.
Well, that's pretty El Aliciatoo, isn't there?
Oh, Elisa.
No, Elisa.
Elisa.
Elisa.
Sorry.
Quit engineer.
I'm just know your place.
I'm right there.
Okay.
So anyways, Mr.
Newcomb, tell us how is it thatyou learned of this program and
how did you get involved with itand.
(02:19):
It just seems like such a, uh, alovely opportunity.
Sure.
Fir First of all, I'm a, a rideron this bus.
Yeah.
I am not, I'm not the founder ofthis program.
Right.
I am a, a rider, participants.
I'm a participant in a passengeron a bigger bus of some really
kind people, but how we gotinvolved is my son Max.
(02:41):
Whom just, I know Max, whom justgraduated from Maita this year.
His best friend was a young manby the name of Yuan.
Oh yeah.
He is also a, uh, from Ukraine.
Yep.
I'm familiar.
And he had come on this programcalled Yu Lead, uh, three years
ago.
And he came for a five weekprogram and traveled all over
(03:04):
just like the girls did, andthen went back to Ukraine.
He wanted so desperately to comeback here and go to school and
he ended up coming back with hisbrother, who's 10 years older
than him and they moved to Eddi.
Yep.
In the apartments by the DairyQueen.
Yeah.
He got into Eddi High School,Mr.
(03:24):
My Miley, Mr.
Miles.
Mr.
Miley, greatest counselor in OMIhistory, and he happened to be
my son's counselor.
Got him in, got him started.
He ended up going to school hisjunior year.
In his senior year, he becamebest friends with my max.
Yep.
And they started hanging out andhe, Yuan has been living with,
well his, he was here in the,his junior year at Christmas
(03:49):
time, his brother decided thathe no longer wanted to be.
Uh, in America.
He was having a hard timeadjusting.
Sure.
And then ended up going backhome to Poland.
Okay.
'cause by that time, his familyhad been so displaced because
he's actually been in an areawhere the war in Ukraine was
going on since 2014.
Oh, good.
And so he's in the Dumbos,Donbas Donbas Oh boy.
(04:11):
Area.
And so his family had beendisplaced for a long time.
Oh boy.
When his brother left, he reallyhad no other options.
He was in the high school andthis wonderful host family.
Who hosted him for his five weekYou lead program said, you know
what?
You come stay with us.
Wonderful.
So Steve and Sherry, who liveright down the street here from
(04:33):
you, the nicest people I've met.
Have hosted him for the lastyear and a half.
Okay.
And my son came to me and said,Hey dad, Julian would love to
spend a week or two this summerat our house.
Hanging out at the pool.
It's my last year here.
And I said, okay, great.
Well, that was two and a halfmonths ago.
Okay.
Yuan is now officially Yuan,Newcomb, Yuan, Newcomb.
(04:57):
Um, he just ate$30 worth of our,uh, fresh fruit.
G we just came home girls and hewas gorging himself on our fresh
fruit.
And, uh.
He is, he is currently inbetween a program, so he was
here under this youth programand then that ended, so he can't
work right now.
So I was able to get him aninternship, a non-paid
(05:17):
internship with a startupcompany that I was helping
advise.
And he's now living with us intothe, uh, foreseeable future.
And his goal is in September orOctober to get into a new
program.
That will allow him to go to theUniversity of Minnesota'cause he
is been accepted.
Oh.
And until then, he's just, he'sliving in our, one of our rooms
and the girls are in a Jack anda Jill and the other half and,
(05:40):
and then my 15-year-old wasliving underneath the stairs
until my 18-year-old ended up incollege.
But that's how I, at hisgraduation at Steven, she, who,
I don't know their last name,but they're the nicest people in
town.
I met Irena and Richard.
Who lead this program.
Oh, okay.
Called you lead and we just gottalking.
(06:02):
Is it just Minnesota?
This, it's just Minnesota.
Okay.
So it's just a, these are thebus drivers.
Got it.
Got it.
These are the real kindness.
These are the people that youshould be talking to, not me.
Yeah, absolutely.
And maybe at some point you can,does do Steve and Sherry have
children in Monte?
They do.
And they were a little, theiryoungest Sam is, it's Steve and
Sherry.
Clydesdale, yeah, that, I thinkthat's right.
(06:22):
Sam and Ben.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's it.
Yeah.
Baseball player.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what's their, what's theirname?
Steven Sherry Clydesdale.
Oh, got it.
And I know Sherry, I could callher right now.
In fact, I probably could.
She's been, she's the nicestlady.
She is.
She's a delight.
She, and, uh, I think she's beenhosting people for years.
Yep.
Absolutely.
And Yuan is, I think they're.
Uh, sad that he wanted a, uh, achange.
(06:43):
Not because he doesn't lovethem.
No, no, it was because he had abuddy with a pool.
With a pool, you know, andapparently there's a couple cute
16 year olds from Ukraine movingin.
Well, we keep them separate.
Very good decision.
Another question, Mike, is it,uh, is it also only Manai that,
that this organization or?
No.
Okay, so it's, oh, no, this is,got it.
Yeah, this is, well, they happento live, so Richard and Irena.
(07:06):
Uh, live in Maplewood.
So their, sphere of influencehappens to kind of be the east
side here.
Got it.
Northeast side, um, of town.
But they have, uh, a couple kidsliving in, uh, Eden Prairie, uh,
right now in Eden Prairie with ahost family, Brooklyn Park
they're up at.
Okay.
And so that's how they just kindof were there and I was dumb and
(07:27):
opened my mouth and I said, ohyeah, this is, it looks cool.
And then I got an email and theysaid, Hey.
Welcome.
Well, Sherry's actually talkedto me because she knew that we
had, uh, au pairs from all overthe world that lived with us.
Maybe next year you can hostbecause they've been doing this
now, this is the fifth yeargirls.
That they've had the You Leadprogram.
(07:47):
Okay.
And it's, is it normally fiveweeks?
Yes.
That they get to spend.
Okay.
And originally, well, they were,uh, uh, four days late because
they're visas.
They were having a hard time inPoland getting their visas.
And so they, these, the girlswere at a camp in Poland for two
weeks.
And then had to extend that byalmost another week because at
the US Embassy there werethings, it's just dragging their
(08:08):
feet.
And then they, they got it, andthen they flew here on a
Wednesday and they've been hereever since.
Now they're in the second weekof their program where every
day, uh, this week is aboutnonprofits.
Okay.
So they're going to, theystarted off, um, what was
yesterday?
Where were you?
Um, let's, anyways, they startedat a different place yesterday
and now.
Today they were at Pros Tech.
(08:30):
Which is the, prosthetic thingthat happens to be run and
organized by Ukrainians.
That's how I got into it,through other people.
So here's what we're gonna do,Mike, you clearly have a knack
for talking into a mic where wecan hear you.
Why don't you, uh, interviewyour friends here and just, take
us through the program.
(08:51):
We're gonna give them the mics,we're gonna give them the
headphones.
You, uh, you ask'em thequestions that need to be asked.
They're very good at talking andanswering questions.
Okay.
These are two of the most stoic.
young women you're ever gonnahear.
So my question is this, Dasha,how did you find out about you
lead, and then what did it meanfor you to be chosen?
(09:15):
thank you for asking thisquestion.
So, as for me, I learned aboutthe program from my student
body.
Uh, we met in, uh, 2023 and webecame Study body because we
wanted to learn English becauseling English is, uh, the second
language and it's, uh, the opendoors, which is the key for the
future.
So, uh, she was last year in,uh, 2024.
(09:39):
And she was so crazy about thisprogram because this program
literally changed her life She,after the program, she just told
me everything about non-profits,government, all this stuff.
And I was so much interest inthis because leadership for me
means a lot.
I feel chosen because.
For me, be a leader means to bean empowered, to be an example
(10:04):
in my community, in my city.
So my city is not, uh, developedenough and my mission here is to
gain lots of, like lots ofknowledge as much as I can and
to implement that because useleadership future is what
motivates me to keep going andto start a day.
And, and what city are you from?
(10:24):
I'm from Nepro.
This is the city in the eastpart of Ukraine.
Yep.
Yeah.
Very nice.
And one of the important thingsto, to keep in mind, this whole
You Lead program was developedbecause sadly, the leaders in
Ukraine, the mayors, the citycouncil people, they're involved
in the war.
And sadly, they all went off towar.
(10:45):
They're not there.
And so they're trying to developthe future leaders, and that's
where Irena and Richard.
Uh, have, are the true championsof finding what I would call the
best of the best.
These kids had to make itthrough deep interviews, uh,
essays, and, uh, there'sthousands of people that wanna
(11:07):
get these slots.
And you're seeing two of 15, andthat's why you, you heard her
talk.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, the fact that you'reEnglish and I mean, you're 16
years old.
Yeah.
How long have you been speakingEnglish?
Well, I started learning Englishin my fifth grade because for
the fourth grade we didn't haveany English at all.
(11:28):
And from the fifth grade we hadthree lessons per week.
And so when I became, uh, when Icame to ninth grade, I was so
interested in, uh, becoming likefluent English.
So I come to extracurricular.
So extra English, we psda anduh, we spent most of the time
reading, listening because, youknow, English as a second
(11:50):
language is really difficult.
And, uh, as theself-development, I was really
interested in getting better andbetter that I was just.
On my own.
I just have to ask this, do youwatch like American sitcoms?
Yeah, I love them.
Like friends.
Have you watched friends?
I love them.
So I, our au pairs talked abouthow one of the ways that they
learned English was by watchingAmerican sitcoms Yeah.
(12:14):
With subtitles for the, in, inthe language that they speak.
So they would hear it and theywould see it.
Let's, uh, let's talk to Elisa.
So Elisa, my, uh, kind of thesame question.
How did you, uh, end up at thisU Lead program?
Give a little background.
Okay.
Thank you so much for asking.
And actually, our stories withDaria are pretty similar because
my best friend who I met in2023, long time ago, right.
(12:38):
Uh, it's Maria Riko.
She was a participant from thelast year and.
I just saw it on her Instagramstories and then it turned out
that we organized and it wenttogether in Giv and she was
like, oh, Elisa.
Today we'll mostly talk aboutopportunities for youth here
have here we had someone, whitespeakers from Ivy League.
Yeah.
(12:58):
And also we were talking aboutthe you lead as an opportunity
for youth and she was like,Lisa, you definitely need to
apply.
Like I'm waiting for yourapplication.
You must apply here.
I was like, oh, okay.
So firstly, I did not expectgetting here at all.
And then I passed the firstround, the second round, and
finally it came out of, it cameout to interview.
(13:19):
I was like, oh, okay.
And then me and Daria, wereceived this letters.
Dear candidate, we are thrilledto inform me that you became the
finalist of the U Lead program.
Yeah, so this how we end upgetting here.
Yeah.
And how I feel, actually, I feelextremely motivated because here
already in two weeks we gained alot of this American experience
(13:43):
and that's what I really want toimplement in my community.
Yeah.
Because there tons of things tolearn, tons of things to learn
from, like from American.
So, yeah, that's it.
And talk about the story, how Ilearned English.
Well, the same for me.
I started learning English ingrade five, but uh, until grade
nine, my English level would beterrible.
(14:03):
Like it was elementary.
It was a one.
The only thing that I could saywas, hello, my name is Lisa.
My age is.
It was 13 the time.
Yeah.
And it was like, no, it can't belike that anymore.
And then the war started and Imoved to transcript region and I
didn't have any friends here.
It was so boring there.
(14:23):
So it was like, why not startingstudying like it's perfect time
to start.
So basically that's how westarted learning English.
I just started watchingeverything in English, doing
Duolingo.
Um.
Participating in some otherprograms.
So yeah, that's basically howit's, yeah.
And where are you from?
I'm from Kiev.
So one of the things that welearned today is that Kiev was
(14:45):
sort of the Russianpronunciation.
Kiev is the Ukrainianpronunciation.
So we're going with Kiev, right?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
That's the one that we like.
Um.
A couple of things.
Can we talk about the war?
Of course.
One of the things that we hearhere in America is that, so many
of the men of a certain age haveleft to go fight for their
(15:07):
country.
And the number of deaths is justincredible.
Do you notice that there areless men than women in the areas
that you live in?
So, um, if we're talking aboutwomen and men, mostly men are
fighting, but women help too.
Uh, of course the rest, somesoldiers who are women, but they
(15:28):
mostly help with, uh, nursingand volunteering, like providing
our solars with medicine.
Other aids.
Yeah, so basically we want helpin this fear not fighting, I
would say.
You?
Yeah, they have a lot of, um,let's say part in their war in
the Helping Soldiers, becauseall the time they are with
(15:49):
soldiers.
They all the time getting firstaid nursery food.
They always with soldiers.
So if we're saying about, um, ifwe notice how many less men we
notice in the real life, yeah,this is it because, uh, many
women.
Have to take men's job.
(16:09):
Yeah.
'cause they have to, they haveno choice.
But this is that I'm proud ofbecause women are actually the
gender that showed from the warthat they can do it.
You bet.
Well, and some of the women,they'll show, the women that are
dressed in the uniforms of thearmy, the Ukrainian army.
And those women looked like theycould beat the crap outta any
(16:31):
one of us.
Sure.
They are some badass women.
Um, John, keep in mind boththeir dads are involved in the
military.
Yeah.
Tell us about that.
So they've, they're, they'vejoined the military as well.
Who, whose dad was a journalistbefore the war mine.
So yeah.
Elisa's dad was a journalistbefore the war.
Really?
And then he's been basicallydrafted.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And he's, he's been going'causehe's not in the home full time.
Correct.
And so again, some of it's alittle bit touchy for'em.
It's, well, it has to be, well,and especially after today
because they were at, is it ProsTech Pro, PROEs PROEs, which is.
Where Ukrainian soldiers rightnow are in Minnesota, in Oakdale
(17:14):
being fitted for prosthetics andthe girls and the rest of their
team spent the entire day therewith them.
Wow.
All day.
Meeting with the soldiers.
Talking with the soldiers.
I, you saw some of the picturesof them fixing the prosthetics,
so they've had a real emotionalday.
Kind of a up and down.
Sure.
And they see their heroesAbsolutely.
(17:36):
Who are, are fighting, but theyalso have to think that.
Um, their family's still there.
Oh.
Fighting.
You know, and then, uh, we weretalking about how they have, uh,
an app on their phone, which is,you know, our kids have TikTok.
They have an app that lets themknow when a missile's coming in.
So let's talk about that for asecond.
You know, where you live.
(17:56):
Have you experienced, missilesand the chaos of war?
Sure.
On a daily basis?
Say that again?
On a daily basis.
On a daily basis.
We are so sheltered here inAmerica.
I can't even wrap my head aroundwhat that must be like, what I
was saying about the school.
So Dasha is on a hybridschedule.
(18:18):
When she gets back, she'll be ona hybrid schedule.
And I said, oh, that'sinteresting.
Why?
Oh, because uh, some kids go toschool this week and then other
kids go this week.
And I was like, oh, great.
She says, well, because atschool we only have so many
shelters, so if there's incomingmissiles.
They can only fit so many kidsin the shelter.
So one week grade three, four,and five go to school.
(18:39):
And then the next week, six,seven, and eight go.
Because when stuff comes in theycan shelter themselves in.
And I thought, oh, okay.
We had hybrid over COVID.
Right.
Understood.
Yeah.
Minnesota people count yourblessings.
Yeah.
My gosh.
Yeah.
So yeah.
So can I ask both of you soundlike you're ready for college
tomorrow?
I mean, you both are very.
(19:00):
Very, obviously, very bright.
You guys are ready forleadership.
What's the next step for both ofyou?
Let's start with you, Dasha.
Like what, what is your goal?
What would you like to do?
Okay, so, and how can we help?
As for me, I'm thinking about,uh.
Having the bachelor degree inadvocacy and also in what?
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
Advocacy.
(19:20):
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So I like the way you said itbetter.
It sounds much moresophisticated.
Yeah.
I have a story in advocacy, whyI'm so interested in advocacy.
So Manice is really interestedin policy Officer.
She wants to be a policeofficer.
And how old is she?
She's 18.
Okay?
(19:41):
Mm-hmm.
So, uh, when her time began andshe finished her high school
degree and she wanted to take onthe old next step, uh, all of
her friends, all of herrelatives were against it.
And I stood by her because Ithink that your idea, your
passion, your choices, becauseyour choices really cement a
(20:03):
lot.
If you good to me, if you makegood choices, you have good
choices.
And once she getting the policytrainings, we, we pass it
together.
Because I think that when youhave someone next to you, when
someone supports you, you betit's the best.
You bet.
Yeah.
And once she get in the PolicyAcademy.
(20:25):
And she finished it.
I think that, uh, it put fire inme to fight for justice, to
fight for what's best, what'sright for people.
So I'm thinking about advocacy.
And would you, will you go toschool in Ukraine?
I thinking of taking a gap year.
Okay.
I'm thinking of G Gear because Ithink that this is the year that
(20:48):
I will make a batch applicationand I will be much more sure
about my path.
So gap year and then college.
I'm just, listen, it'sunbelievable.
You're, you're, we're, we'regetting 5% of this.
They, they're gonna take a gapyear so that she can build her
resume for Right.
Getting into a college, which isjust another example of how,
(21:12):
forgive me for saying this.
Many American 16 year olds don'thave a clue.
They're so entitled.
And the fact that you understandthat by taking that gap year is
gonna give you the opportunityto build your resume.
I hate to say it, but themajority of the 16 year olds
that I know, well, of course Idon't need to do that.
(21:35):
I should, I should just get itbecause, you know, I It's just
they're not looking past the oneyear.
They're only 17.
So at the end of this year, theywere technically in the US be
gonna go into their senior year.
So this gap year for them isstudying, getting ready because
they, these are Harvard boundyoung kids.
They're, they're being modest.
(21:55):
Where did you learn that?
So what, let's look, I had a, wedon't have gotta talk into the
mic.
I loved what you said about, um.
Uh, good choices helped me makebetter choices.
Where did you learn that from?
So I have the best trust fatherthat, oh boy.
That we have.
Oh boy.
Is that how you had that writtenup for him, Mike?
(22:16):
No.
We have the best eveningsbecause, um, when we came from
the program, we have talks.
We have talks what we've learnedfrom today because it's really
important to technologists, tothrough the life and to not
forget about it.
And so here I'm just sittingnext to the best and just
fabulous host, brother host.
(22:38):
Well, you had good host brotherstoo.
Yeah.
Well, and Mike looks youngenough to be a host brother.
Well, the true, this is true thetruth, and this is a shout out
to my son Max, who did it.
He, he was the speaker at hisgraduation in his speech.
Of course he was.
Yeah, of course he was.
It's just I was the biggestloser in high school.
You were not, you were notcracked.
(22:59):
No, but it cracks me up that Maxwas.
You know, one, two, or three?
Yeah.
I'm not sure that we wouldcomment.
I'm not sure that we would'vehad you, as valedictorian.
Salutatorian.
No.
Popular guy.
Yeah.
Popular.
Yes.
Academically scraping by.
But no, ma Max was gave the, uh,the class, the commencement
address.
Commencement address.
Good for you for EDI this year,his speech was about choices.
(23:22):
If you make good choices, you'llhave choices.
Go get, you know, go get me.
Oh my God.
And so his whole thing, thatshould be on a sign somewhere.
Well, they, they put it in thewhite bear press.
So they did the wholetranscribed it, put it in the
press, in the whole, took thewhole section, whatever the
editorial side was.
Took out a couple of his jokes,but left the body of it.
And the gist of it was that ifyou make, and this has been my
(23:43):
mantra to him for since he wasborn, absolutely.
That if you make good choices inlife, you'll have choices.
You don't let the world tell youwhat you're gonna be.
You tell the world what you'regonna be.
Right?
And just, so we talked aboutthat just as an FYI, uh, we
haven't talked about this, butMax Newcomb was one of our
selfless scholar, recipients.
He was nominated by Max Egan.
(24:04):
Totally small world coincidence.
I get this.
They, he gets selected and I'mlooking at the names and I'm
like.
Max Newcomb.
I, I wonder if that's MikeNewcomb.
So I went on Facebook and sureenough he's got all these
pictures and he's referring toSon Max., That's gotta be the
kid.
These newcombs just keep poppingup in our world here.
Kind Chronicles, Newcomb, uh,which is funny because I had no
(24:25):
idea about it.
So, Alyssa, tell us about you.
What, what is your plan?
What do you want to do in thefuture?
Okay, so, um, actually I'mthinking about getting my
bachelor's degree here in the USand I was interested about
getting my bachelor's degreehere from the grade eight tell
'em what school you want to goto.
(24:45):
Yeah.
Um, okay, so here's kinda a bigstory actually.
I think I was interested inapplying here into the US since
I was like a kid because myuncle lives here in the US and
they used to come.
Come to Ukraine right when therewas no war.
And they were like, so we'rewaiting for you to come to the
Yes.
And they always motivated mewith that.
So I started build, working onmy profile since grade eight or
(25:09):
nine.
But then I wasn't sure about mysphere.
Like I used to try all theactivities, like from
volunteering to like runningsome projects, you know?
And this year I applied tolaunch X program, which is.
All about entrepreneurship andbusiness, and that was the
turning point.
I realized that this is mysphere.
(25:31):
I want to connect my life withit.
Then I did some pro, did someprograms at Stanford University.
Yeah, and I really, really likethat.
So currently I want to get mybachelor's degree in business
administration here in the us.
Yeah, that's really motivating.
And, and what school do you wantgo to?
Um, actually my list, my collegelist contains 30 universities,
(25:53):
but my dream school is Stanfordand Babson.
What, what is what?
Babson.
Babson and Stanford?
Yeah.
Oh, Stanford?
Yeah.
Stanford.
Oh, good.
You were thinking Sanford?
No, no.
I heard Stanford.
Okay.
Well, good luck.
That's a, a tough one to getinto.
And the other impressive thingis that Elisa already has a
(26:16):
business that she's been workingon with some people in, uh,
Ukraine.
And the business is puttingtogether a study guide.
On for young Ukrainians ofbasically how to become
entrepreneurs, because she wasexplaining to me that in Ukraine
there's kind of a hangover fromthe former Soviet Union where
(26:38):
people don't think about beingbusiness owners, right?
And your parents will tell you,no, no, no.
You go to work.
You go work here, you go workthere.
So they don't have the supportfrom the parents because a lot
of them, their parents were fromthe Soviet era.
And so she's created a, uh, acoursework and a, a thing for,
(26:58):
was it a four week or three weekor.
Five week, five week program forwhere you start this program and
you learn about how to be anentrepreneur, what it's all
about.
They have mentors involved, andthey're gonna be in Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, I mean, I, I heardthis story.
I was, I don't know if I've everfelt, and you're 16, so
inadequate in my life.
(27:18):
This is, it's your host dad, youknow, is an entrepreneur.
But he wasn't an entrepreneurwhen he was 16, I can tell you
that.
No, not at their, not to theextent of these guys.
He was a salesman at the age of16 ways.
Career mindsets.
What's that?
He had his mindset.
He did have his mindset.
Mindset.
Very much so, yes.
Okay.
I just need to say, you ladiesare obviously incredibly
(27:41):
impressive and inspiring andyou, you guys represent why we
are doing this show and whowe're trying to highlight.
You as well, Mike and your wife,and your son and your family
for, for extending this kindnessto people like this in the world
that could use this kinda help.
It's amazing.
And I just wanna thank you forbeing here and listening to,
(28:01):
and, and telling us about, uh,what you're all about.
It's really, it means a lot tous that you're here.
I know it's only been a littlewhile since you've been here,
and it sounds like you've,you've had a, a, a good
experience with America.
How about any, to make it lighthere, but is there, is there
anything about Minnesotaspecifically that you're
noticing that you'd like to,that you're finding interesting
or appreciative?
(28:22):
Thanks for asking.
Actually, I was impressed of howkind people are here.
Like I was in shock becauseeverybody is eager to help you.
They're eager to contributesomething to this society
because recently me and Daria,we had a situation, so we were
waiting for our host mom in aneighborhood and we were just
like looking around for the car.
We were just waiting and therewas a woman, she was just riding
(28:45):
her car and she was like, girls,aren't you lost?
Are you okay?
And I was like, wow, this woman,like we're not acquainted.
Like we're just strangers andshe cares about us.
Wow.
She didn't offer you candy, didshe?
Because that's a bad sign.
No, she says, Hey, I've got somepuppies in my car to show you.
Don't go to the car.
Yeah.
We know the situation, so No, itwas not like that.
(29:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
People are super kind here andthat's really impressive.
Well, a great example is ourhost family.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Let's see.
Mm-hmm.
Let's hear it for Mr.
New and Family said.
Uh, I am a passenger on a busbeing driven.
Yeah.
And I, you know what, and that'sby other people.
And that's the kind of humilityand I'm glad I'm here.
(29:29):
Yeah.
You know?
So the state fair, you have thestate fair you're going
tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Yep.
That will be an experience.
Um, have some experience.
Yeah.
Have you talked to them aboutthe foods that they're gonna
want to consume?
I just said you're gonna seethe, the best in the worst of
Minnesota.
I'll tell you.
All wrapped up in one place thatthe people watching is gonna be
(29:49):
great.
There's nothing I was at the.
Fair.
Last night I went with KevinGorg.
Yeah.
And we sat there and we decidedlet's create our Mount Mount
Rushmore.
You guys familiar with MountRushmore?
It's a, it's a mountain that hasfour famous president's heads on
it.
And it's a way of kind ofdescribing who are the craziest
looking people that we saw here.
(30:11):
It was so easy'cause everyfourth or fifth person looked
like a lunatic.
And it happened to be DefLeppard was the band that was
playing.
Yeah.
Which is, are you familiar withDef Leppard the band?
There was an interesting, it wasan interesting group of people
there.
I would suggest that you takesome Tums, you guys know Tums
for stomach aches?
(30:31):
These are smart kids.
Any final questions?
Jeff, you must have one.
I just have a plug if you'rehere long enough.
And, um, Mike, if you've everbeen to Kumar Checks in
Northeast Minneapolis, have youalready?
Okay, that's a good, authentic,uh, per any of our listeners, if
you want some Ukrainian food.
That's good.
Um, any cultural, fun, culturalexperiences, Mike?
(30:54):
That.
It's sort of been you, you'reall in the same house.
Is there any fun stories thathave come out of it?
You've already talked about theteaching of the swear words and
stuff.
That's pretty funny.
Any other good meaningful kindstories that have come out of
two cultures merging into onehere?
I, it to me, why I wanted to bepart of this program was so that
(31:15):
my boys would be exposed to.
Young ladies like this.
Honestly, it's been more, Imean, the impact on me is.
Uh, I can't even, uh, speak onit just because it's changed my
entire perspective, but to havemy, to have the girls and I said
it's real important for my15-year-old.
He just loves these guys.
'cause it's like he has sistersand they sit in the kitchen and
(31:38):
laugh and, and learn swearwords, and learn swear words and
they teach'em.
For me, it's just more.
I love, I'm a sponge and I loveto absorb, and I've just been
absorbing and they're inspiringto me.
And, and again, if the rest ofthese people, and I went to this
program and I, I met all thesepeople and I said, boy, I'm, I'm
(32:00):
doing nothing.
I mean, I'm doing nothing.
And I, you know, I, I am a quietdoer.
I usually don't.
Talk about stuff, but thesepeople are just the greatest
people and they're just doing it'cause they are great.
They're what everything you guyswanna always promote and talk
about.
They are the kindnessChronicles.
(32:20):
Go ahead.
I I was just, and I'll, I'llturn it back to John, but.
Thank you.
I'll, I'll echo uh, Steve'sappreciation for you being here
'cause it, it is inspiring.
I do think we in the UnitedStates, because we haven't had
to dodge bombs and deal with warand things like that, we do have
a sense of entitlement and maybean, a lack of understanding of
(32:41):
the evil that really is, can bea part of this world.
So I do think it takesambassadors like yourself coming
here.
And so I just encourage youshare these stories with us.
'cause that's how we learn.
Thanks for being on the podcast.
Thanks, John.
Once again, very grateful thatyou guys, uh, took the time to
come here.
So great to meet you both.
Uh.
You know, if you're ever tryingto get into a school in
(33:02):
Minnesota, I think Mike and Imight be able to help you out.
I'm not sure if these clownswill be able to help, but, uh,
but anyways, uh, thank you forcoming in.
Best wishes for the rest of yourprogram good luck with your
entrepreneurship and youradvocacy.
And, looking forward to, uh,hearing where things go.
And with that, off we go.
(33:29):
They shut her down.
Shut her down.
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