KENNESAW, Ga. | Jul 30, 2025

For one month each of the past four years, Yuriy Soroka wakes up in an abandoned building after a few hours of fitful sleep. More than likely, he has slept in his clothes, so he rises quickly and gets to work.

The 2013 graduate of Kennesaw State University’s Wellstar School of Nursing grabs a medical kit with donated supplies, then puts on a helmet and a flak jacket over his scrubs. Sometimes he hears drones overhead, other times fighter jets. Yet the task of healthcare continues in Ukraine, a war zone since 2022 and Soroka’s native country.

“Even before the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s healthcare was underfunded and needed reform. The war caused shortages of staff and resources while the number of trauma patients sharply increased. Thankfully, I had the skills to fill the needs,” he said. “I've been trained properly, and the first step was my education at KSU.”

Soroka was one of two KSU nursing alums honored by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently, receiving an AJC Nurse Excellence Award for 2025. Justin Connelly, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2018 and works at Piedmont Henry Hospital in McDonough, also received a Nurse Excellence Award.

Both Soroka and Connelly come from multigeneration nursing families. Soroka followed his mother, Valentina, into the field, and his daughter, Karina, practices nursing in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta. Connelly’s father, Jay, is the director of trauma and neurology nursing at Piedmont Henry.

Soroka started his bachelor’s degree from scratch, enrolling at KSU several years after relocating to the United States. He enjoyed a consummate college experience, taking all the prerequisites from throughout the university, which he credited for broadening his knowledge beyond the medical field.

“For me, KSU was a great opportunity to adjust to American life – more than that, to become a better citizen,” he said. “There was just a good mix of different nationalities, different ages, and backgrounds. KSU was so accommodating for me.”

Notwithstanding his pedigree, Connelly took an unconventional path to his career. A former collegiate golfer, his bachelor’s degree in medical psychology from Mercer University prepared him well for the accelerated BSN program at Kennesaw State. He credited KSU’s instructors and facilities for giving him the training he needed to excel as a nurse.

“In the accelerated program at Kennesaw State, having a bachelor's degree in a different discipline allowed me to skip the prerequisites and really focus on what it meant to be prepared as a nurse,” Connelly said. “Hands down, I got the best nursing experience. Comparing experiences to nurses who work with me at Henry, the moment I walked into the hospital, I felt more prepared than anybody around me, and that was a direct reflection of what I learned at Prillaman Hall.”

For now, Soroka continues to provide care for anyone who needs it. He and his fellow providers can’t rely on power or water, so generators and batteries are a lifeline. Supplies come up short sometimes, too, so Soroka said they must be resourceful. 

In August, Soroka will return home to his wife and three children in Roswell, Georgia, and to his job as a critical care nurse at Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. He’ll still carry Ukraine with him and will return next year if the situation warrants. He’ll also take the well-learned skills from more than a decade of nursing as well as his education at KSU.

“KSU gave me a ticket to do this international relief work through all the training, experiences, and the facilities like the skills lab,” he said. “The ability to save lives, you can’t match that. I'm so grateful to the KSU nursing school for giving me these abilities.”

– Story by Dave Shelles

Photos by Matt Yung and provided

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.