LA CROSSE, Wis., September 18, 2025 – Western welcomed a delegation from Ukraine this week as part of the Open World Leadership Center’s international exchange program, coordinated locally by Rotary. The group spent Wednesday afternoon learning about Western’s Health Information Technology program and exploring the college’s innovative facilities.

During their visit, delegates toured Western’s XR Lab, where students practice skills in a virtual reality environment, and engaged in conversations with faculty about health technology education in the U.S. The seven-member delegation is in Wisconsin to gather ideas for advancing healthcare technology in Ukraine.

“This information is to be usable for us in the future, to implement some sort of things in our country,” said delegate Andrii Skopets. “Some solutions are pretty simple but if you think about them very much, they look so brilliant.”

Skopets added that the experience has been “fun, easy, and educational,” praising the openness and willingness of faculty and community members to share knowledge.

The Open World program, a congressional initiative, brings emerging leaders from countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to the U.S. for knowledge exchange. Nearly 30,000 delegates have participated since the program’s founding, with Rotary clubs across 280 U.S. cities serving as hosts.