More than two years ago, I sat in the gallery of the House of Representatives and watched Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko address a joint session of Congress. I am the great-granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants. I did my master’s thesis at Georgetown on the impact of United States-Russian educational exchange programs on sustainable democratization in the Russian Federation.

My ethnic and academic background made me especially entranced by the speech of the new Ukrainian president. Current events meant the world was focused on his words too.