After fleeing Ukraine, PBSC grad finds her way back to art

Sofiia Toropova thought she knew exactly how her life would unfold. She was living in Odesa, Ukraine, attending art school and planning to become an artist. When war broke out in early 2022, those plans came to a halt.

Months of chaos, violence and uncertainty followed before her parents decided to leave everything behind. Toropova, her parents and her three siblings crossed the border into Moldova, boarded a bus to Romania and eventually found their way to the U.S.

Her father, who worked for an international company, had a colleague in Florida who offered the family a place to stay as they searched for permanent housing. But the abrupt shift — from war to an unfamiliar country — left Toropova feeling disoriented, depressed and helpless, she said.

“I felt like I lost all the meaning. I had dreams in Ukraine, and I knew for sure what I was going to do,” Toropova said. “At that point, nothing made sense to me. Everything seemed meaningless and I think I felt depressed at the time, but I didn't realize it. I just didn't feel like anything mattered.”

Toropova enrolled at G-Star School of the Arts and slowly began rebuilding her life. After graduating from high school in 2024, she decided to refocus on her goal of becoming an artist. She first learned about Palm Beach State College when she attended an open house at the Lake Worth campus. She said she was impressed by the variety of art classes and the work displayed in the Lake Worth Campus Art Gallery.

“I really like the art community at PBSC. It's little, but there's a lot of inspirational people who love what they're doing and support you if they see potential,” she said.

Toropova primarily creates oil paintings but also experiments with other materials, including graphic art using ink. She draws inspiration from Ukrainian artists and her grandfather, who was also a painter. Her work often explores Ukrainian mythology, using it as a metaphor for the human experience.

Toropova recommends PBSC to students interested in art because the professors work in the field, making them “great artists first and great professors second,” she said.

One professor who has made a significant impact on Toropova is Kristin Miller, department chair of fine arts and graphic design and curator for the Lake Worth Campus Art Gallery. She has helped Toropova learn about opportunities in the art world and offered advice on building a career.

"I'm so proud to have had Sofiia as a student in various fine arts classes this last year. I have been so impressed with her work and am thrilled that she has been accepted to several major art schools to be able to continue her training,” Miller said. “Her work has been on display in the Humanities Building and fellow classmates have been in awe of her artistic talent. I know she will do wonderful things through the arts."

Now that she has earned her Associate in Arts degree from PBSC, Toropova is considering her next steps. She has been accepted to the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the Maryland Institute College of Art and is waiting to hear back from other programs before making a decision. She said she feels both excited and uncertain about the future.

“I think because of the war, I stopped expecting anything from the future. But it's always interesting what's going to be next, even if you're not planning it,” she said.

Her advice to students facing hardship is simple:

“I believe in hard times, when you don't know what to feel and what to do next, it's good to take things one day at a time.”