In November 2008, Russian students at ARHS participated in the National Russian Essay Contest. The topic of the essay (which they received at the beginning of the 2 hr. period) was "November 2025 - Who am I?." How they approached the theme was up to them. Fifty-five high school Russian programs with a total of 1,286 students participated in the contest. At the Advanced level, fifty gold medals were awarded. Amherst received four of these! The essays of the Advanced Russian students will be sent on to the Pushkin Institute in Moscow for a further round of international judging in May.
At the Advanced Level the following medals were earned: Gold medals: Robin Palmer, Caroline Mabee, Erika Norden, and Atticus Brigham. Silver medals went to: Aleks Popstefanija, Glynis MacMillan, and Brittany Baglow. Bronze medal awarded to Kate Atkinson.
The following awards were earned at the intermediate level: Gold medals to Jeremy Salwen, Genevieve Higgins, and Alison Cherrington. Silver medals to Alanna Lloyd, Aliza Micelotta, Aravis Albert and Myles Darby. Bronze medals were awarded to Molly Schulman and Emilia Fabrizi.
On Sunday, March 1, 2009, Russian students at ARHS participated in the 33rd Annual New England Olympiada of Spoken Russian. The competition consists of two rounds. The first round consists of three commissions. In Commission I, a judge, a native-speaker of Russian, asks students to provide a personal narrative on any one of six topics. In Commission II, students must recite a Russian poem from memory without notes. The poem must be 16 lines or more, and students must also be able to explain the meaning of their poem in Russian. In Commission III, students must answer in Russian questions on the geography of Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Students who complete the first round of judging with an average score of at least 95 points graduate to the second round. There students are interviewed by a panel of 3 or more judges and once again receive points based upon their accurate use of Russian grammar as well as the breadth of their vocabulary.
At the Advanced Level three gold medals were earned by Robin Palmer (2011), Erika Norden (2009), and Glynis MacMillan (2009). At the end of the competition, the top five finalists are ranked and announced with Glynis MacMillan (2009) placing 4th, Erika Norden (2009) placing 2nd, and Robin Palmer (2011) placing 1st.
Robin and Erika are now eligible to apply for a summer 2009 study abroad program in Vladimir, Russia. Approximately fifteen Olympiada finalists from across the United States will be selected to participate in the program, which includes language, literature and history classes taught in Russian and a home stay with a Russian family.
Schools participating in the regional competition include Buckingham, Browne and Nichols, Austin Prep, Northfield-Mount Hermon, Newton South, and Amherst Regional.