High school grad from Ukraine hopes to continue family's naval legacy by joining the U.S. Navy
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK (WABC) -- Yuri Kryvoruchko was born in the U.S. but his parents are from Ukraine. He comes from a long line of family members who have been in the naval service in Ukraine and hopes to continue that legacy by joining the U.S. Navy upon graduation.
Kryvoruchko was part of the Class of 2024 who graduated at Alexander Hamilton High School in the Village of Elmsford on Tuesday.
He spent most of his life in Crimea before the Russian invasion. Kryvoruchko was there when Russia seized control in 2014. He was just 8 years old, but his memories of that are crystal clear.
"As soon as my home was taken away, when parents' home and my grandparents' home, and my cousins and sisters -- we all grew up there, so did I. So, when that got taken away that was such a devastating blow to my family," Kryvoruchko said.
His family, including two sisters, a brother, uncles and aunts, are still there.
He sometimes cannot speak to his brother, who is in the Ukrainian Navy, for weeks.
"You just have these thoughts running through your head, like 'I don't know what's going on,' I'm just praying to God that I'll call him one day and that he'll answer," Kryvoruchko said.
Kryvoruchko said he was able to enjoy his graduation briefly. He leaves on Wednesday for the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis where he continues in the U.S., what his family did for generations in the Ukraine.
"My family is in the Ukrainian Navy, let me be the first in the American Navy. I love naval culture. I come from a naval family. My dad was in the Navy and my grandparents were as well." Kryvoruchko said.
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