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By Janis Mork
July 24, 2013 (El Cajon)- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." Viktoriya Sinnelnikov, who moved here from the Ukraine in 2004, quoted this saying by Confucius in her commencement speech as valedictorian at Cuyamaca Community College last month.
Sinelnikov majored in science and mathematics with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Her journey at Cuyamaca began in spring 2007, where she went to school part-time all the while juggling that with being married to her husband, also from Ukraine, and raising her two children, son Kiril, now 7, and 2-year-old Elizabeth.
“My husband was the only one who financially supported me,” Sinelnikov told ECM.
She is an example of the American success story. Sinelnikov first moved to the U.S. in December 2004 to marry her husband. “My parents were surprised. I left a lot behind- work, family…” She had earned her medical degree in Ukraine, but “that didn’t count, so I had to start all over in the U.S.” When she first came to the U.S., she was most surprised that people in the U.S. follow rules and there are laws. In her home country, there are no laws. She was very nervous because she learned mostly British English in high school back in Ukraine and could carry on a conversation.
She chose Cuyamaca College because “it’s closer to my home… I like the beautiful landscape…”
In her speech, she also mentions how challenging general biology was for her after completing ESL (English as a Second Language) classes. “For the first time, I spent several hours in the college library trying to read and translate one page from a general biology book.” It was very difficult, but “the future of my family and my will to become a nurse motivated me.” She also got help from a biology tutor.
She has some family roots in the medical field. Her grandfather was a surgeon and her grandmother was a dentist, which inspired her to become a nurse from the beginning.
Sinelnikov plans to transfer to San Diego State University next year. She told ECM she hopes to get involved in pediatrics and later aspires to get a Masters degree and become a nurse practitioner.
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