About Us

Skylar Painter

Hey everybody! My name is Skylar Painter and I am currently a class of 2024 History student at West Chester University. I was born and raised outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am currently 21 years old and got involved in this project when my professors asked me to join 19 other international students in Saarbrucken, Germany in order to document wartime experiences. Once there, our group decided to focus on the female experience during war, particularly the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. We all felt it was important to display the female narrative regarding war, as war oftentimes is viewed as a solely male struggle. Therefore, we set out to interview a variety of Ukrainian women about their experiences in various wars, whether that be the current invasion or past conflicts during the Soviet Era. Since I live in the United States and am only fluent in English, my contribution to the project was more so focused on helping with the transcription process, proofreading translations, and conducting a small number of interviews. I also was able to provide some guidance when it came to the application of a historical lens to the completed interviews. Overall, I am very grateful for the amazing work of my group mates who conducted the majority of the interviews and I am very excited to share our work! 

You can contact Skylar by emailing her at skylarpainter16@gmail.com!

Yuliia Slipchenko

My name is Yuliia Slipchenko, I am 21 years old, and I am a fourth-year student of English philology at Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, Ukraine. I was raised and currently reside in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. I was offered an opportunity to participate in this project with students from three different universities to have a course of lectures which would help us record and study the war experiences of the current Russo-Ukrainian war. Since I never left my home village after the beginning of Russian full-scale invasion, I was able to witness the impacts the war conflict had on my relatives and the people I knew. Most of them were women who either stayed at home or left for another city or country in order to find at least temporary peace and shelter for their families and for themselves. When the group I was a part of was asked to decide on the topic of our small project, we almost immediately came up with the idea of women experience in war time in historical perspective since my country has suffered from numerous war conflicts throughout the last one hundred years. My contribution to the project was in recording interviews with Ukrainian women who experience the current Russo-Ukrainian war in different status: as mothers, wives, refugees, and as descendants of those who went through previous military conflicts on the territory of Ukraine. I am content with the results we have achieved and grateful to all the members of my team as well as the professors who lectured us for the unique experience of studying with talented people who are always ready to help, support and share their knowledge with you.

Martha Nek

BIO COMING SOON