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Victoria Zdrok
| Biography |
Victoria Zelenetskaya was born in Kiev, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) on March 3, 1973. The daughter of a photojournalist and a university professor, Victoria chafed against the repressive Soviet system as she was growing up.
At age 9, she demonstrated her defiance by destroying part of her school uniform during a state-sponsored ceremony at her school. While this left a black mark on her record, Victoria persevered in her studies and eventually made headlines when she became, at age 16, the first Soviet teenager to come to the United States as part of an exchange program. Her 1989 trip came about thanks as much, no doubt, to glasnost as to her excellent grades.
Victoria was eager to take advantage of her historic opportunity, and she quickly graduated from Pensacola Junior College at age 17. In order to stay in America, she married an Alexander Zdrok in October of 1990, then began studies at Pennsylvania's West Chester University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at age 18, graduating with a 3.96 GPA.
Her academic efforts paid off, and Victoria was accepted into a highly competitive joint law/psychology doctorate program hosted by Villanova University and Hahnemann Medical School. |
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