When Tyrone alum Lena Walk first arrived at Tyrone Area Middle School after being adopted from Ukraine, she spoke no English.

One of the first people she met at school was Tyrone Area School District ESL teacher Rebecca Barlett, who spoke no Ukrainian.

Needless to say, Lena’s first few months were tough.

“I struggled really bad,” Lena said. “I thought I would never learn English. I remember crying about it. But once we got to school, we got a lot of help.”

Despite the language barrier, Bartlett worked tirelessly to help Lena learn English and transition to her new life in central Pennsylvania.

Lena graduated in 2015 and Bartlett just retired last year, but the former teacher and student still keep in touch. Both were back at TAHS two weeks ago when Lena was the guest juror for the 2024 Tyrone Art Show.

When asked to describe Lena, Bartlett did not hesitate to express her admiration for her former student.

“Lena is very determined. If she wants something, she goes for it and she goes full in,” Bartlett said. “She also has a huge heart and she truly wants the best for everybody.”

But all that positivity and drive belies a challenging childhood and a sadness for her family that remains in Ukraine, a country devastated by war.

EARLY LIFE

Lena was born in Novovoronconka, Ukraine. Her mother passed away when she was very young and she was sent to an orphanage where she lived from age 6 to age 14. Lena described life in the orphanage for her and the other children as difficult.

She said children from the orphanage were treated differently than other students at school.

“I witnessed a lot of abuse from teachers toward a lot of the younger children,” Lena said.

She also described rampant corruption, including instances when the orphanage staff stole from the children.

Walk said that missionaries from the United States, Canada, and Italy would visit often and bring gifts for the children. But what seemed like an act of kindness ended in disappointment for Lena and the other children.

“They would take pictures of us with all the gifts and everything we received. But after they left, we would have nap time and while we were lying down to take a nap, the teacher would pack everything so she could take it home later,” Lena said. “We have these people that we rely on, and we think they want the best for us. But then you watch them steal from you. It’s very upsetting.”

Lena said that the teachers would also pressure them to buy gifts. Lena and the other children would gather every penny they had, and spend it all on a gift for their teacher.

“[The teacher] would guilt trip us for Christmas. If we didn’t leave her a gift…she would get mad. So me and the girls would, with whatever pennies we had, we would gather it all together and somebody would run to the store to get her a gift. Like, that’s so crazy to me. How, you know, she was able to do that,” Lena said.

However, there were also positive things that happened at the orphanage. It was there she discovered her talent for art, which was encouraged by a caring teacher who mentored her.

“She would take me home on a weekend. I mean, I’m sure other kids would have loved for somebody to get them on a weekend. She would make me a nice breakfast and I would hang out with her. I don’t even know if she legally was allowed to do that, but she took me home. I was very close with her and I still talk to her to this day. She’s done a lot for me,” Lena said.

It was there that she also learned the value of hard work and self-reliance.

“In Ukraine, even if you do work hard, you still may not get anywhere. So since I was young, I understood that if I’m not going try to invest in me, nobody’s going to do it for me. So I guess that was another positive thing that I learned at a young age, that you have to work very hard if you want to get anywhere,” Lena said.

A NEW START IN THE U.S.

Lena, along with her brother and another girl from the orphanage, were adopted by Lori and Russy Walk of Tyrone in 2011.

“I first met Lena and her brother when I was at the children’s home in Krivoy Rig, Ukraine adopting another little girl,” said Lena’s adopted mom, Lori. “Many of Lena‘s original art pieces were on display at the children’s home, so I actually saw her artwork before I ever had the opportunity to meet her. But it was not her gifted talent as an artist that drew me to her, it was her spirit that was able to shine with reliance even in difficult circumstances and her inner beauty and heart.”

When Lena first came to Tyrone it was very tough for her. They spent their first month at home before enrolling at Tyrone Area Middle School.

Not only was there a language barrier between her and her peers, but the culture was also drastically different. The orphanage that she came from was a tough environment and fights were common.

“The way we were growing up, fist fighting was normal. You have to stick up for yourself there [because] nobody else would stick up for you. And that’s something I learned growing up. The bullying was really bad. I witnessed my brother being bullied, I was being bullied. So I was always in a fight mode, even when I came here. And then I realized…oh, it happens, but it’s not like a normal, daily thing. So, I definitely felt like somebody was always after me, or somebody was going to hurt me or something. I don’t know, I was very much on my toes,” Lena said.

But Barlett took Lena under her wing and helped her to learn trust in others and transition to life in the US.

The Ukrainian language uses a variant of Cyrillic script, so when Lena first arrived she was not even familiar with the alphabet, let alone the language.

So Lena and Barlett began by learning the letters, and from there they moved on to opposites.

At first, Lena and Barlett communicated by pointing and physically doing things. When learning the words “in” and “out”, Barlett had to stand inside a room to display the word “in”, and then she would walk outside of the room to display the word “out”.

The process was exhausting for both student and teacher, but Barlett recalled that Lena was very determined and started to grasp the language quickly.

As the years went by, Barlett watched Lena grow academically and socially.

Her art talent flourished under the direction of Tyrone High School art teacher Eric Feather and she quickly began to make friends at her new school.

In Ukraine, it is traditional for students to bring gifts to their teachers on the first day of school, so Lena always brought Barlett flowers. However, unlike her experience in Ukraine, Lena did it because she wanted to, not because she felt obligated.

Bartlett returned the favor a few years ago by purchasing a piece of Lena’s art. She saw a particularly stunning piece Lena posted on social media and immediately knew she had to have it.

“I contacted her right away. I said that I’d like to have it,” Bartlett said. “She called me back and said that someone had offered to buy it, but she would give it to me. I said, Oh, no, no, I’m paying for it. So I think I paid her $200 for it. And it is a beautiful piece.”

Lena, now 27, lives in Altoona where she is raising her two children and building a career as a professional artist.

Her first break as a professional artist came from Tyrone-based developer Jeff Long.

Long met Lena through his daughter when they were still in high school. He hired her to paint all the ceilings and many murals at Long’s Graystone Grande Palazzo apartments in Altoona.

“Her creativity brings them so much joy. The residents love to explore the building, looking at all the different paintings. Even though there are so many paintings in the building Lena was able to make each one a little different so they are always exciting to look at,” Long said.

FAMILY IN UKRAINE

Walk still has an older sister and brother living in Ukraine. Her sister contemplated leaving the country when the war broke out but chose to stay because her husband was of draft age.

“It’s his duty to stay and protect. She didn’t want to leave him behind, which is understandable, I probably would have done the same thing in her case, but I feel bad for her two little boys,” Lena said.

These days, Lena and her sister talk regularly.

“We call each other, we check on each other. It’s been kind of difficult to communicate lately because of this situation with the war. I’m sure she’s dealing with a lot of stress. I would love for them to come here and get to experience life here, at least for the summertime and create some good childhood memories instead of listening to the sirens every day,” Lena said.

Lena said that she feels sorry for her sister and her nephews.

“I feel guilty mentioning anything good going on in my life. So it’s been really difficult ever since the war started. But you know, I always have to make sure that I’m there for her and if she ever needs me to do anything, if she ever wants me to bring my nephews over here for the summer. I think that would be awesome,” Lena said.

VISITING HER ROOTS

The village Lena grew up in is currently under Russian occupation, but she was able to visit in 2019 before the invasion.

“My mom’s grave is there. Like, that’s the only thing that I was worried about, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to go back and visit her grave,” Lena said.

On the trip, Lena visited the house she lived in before moving to the orphanage. The visit gave her much-needed closure to the early chapters of her life.

“I think I felt better seeing that place and knowing that it has no control over me anymore. I’m in control of my life. So that kind of felt good, because we sat at that house for days with no food. You know, nobody’s coming to visit us. We were starving. It was really sad. It was cold. I remember I was just sitting on the window sill and I would just cry for somebody to come and get us. It was very, very sad and lonely time and the memories that I have are very depressing,” Lena said.

The house was abandoned and overgrown with weeds and she couldn’t get inside.

“I looked through the windows and I took pictures of that house. And now that I’m looking back at it, I’m actually glad that I never walked into that house again. I don’t think I need to, I think me coming there and like, looking at everything and knowing that I will never be there again. It’s never going to hurt me again. I just need to let go.”

Gallery • 8 Photos

The house where Lena lived in Ukraine before moving to the orphanage. Lena visited in 2019 and took this photo herself (photo courtesy of Lena Walk).