ARHS Russian Students Continue to Excel

28th Annual National Russian Essay Contest.

In November 2009, Russian students at ARHS participated in the 28th Annual National Russian Essay Contest. The topic of the essay (which they received at the beginning of the 2 hr. period) was "What I especially like." How they approached the theme was up to them. The essays of the Advanced Russian students were sent to the Pushkin Institute in Moscow for a further round of international judging in March.

At the Advanced Level the following medals were earned: Gold medals: Robin Palmer, Jessica Duda and Genevieve Higgins. Silver medals went to: Caroline Mabee, Alanna Lloyd, Alison Cherrington, and Aravis Albert. Bronze medals awarded to Kelsey Welborn, Molly Schulman, Aliza Micelotta, Katherine Atkinson and Emilia Fabrizi. Honorable Mention awarded to Jeremy Salwen and Myles Darby.

The following awards were earned at the intermediate level: Gold medal awarded to Natalia Ciesielska, Silver medal to Madeline Auerbach. Bronze medal awarded to Karol Blair.

Congratulations to Jessica Duda, Genevieve Higgins, and Robin Palmer. They each received a gold medal in the second round of judging in Moscow.

The 29th National Russian Essay Contest will take place in November 2010.

35th Annual New England Olympiada of Spoken Russian

On Sunday, May 2, 2010, twelve ARMS/ARHS Russian students participated in the 35th 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 seven gold medals were earned by Alison Cherrington (pictured at left), Aravis Albert, Kelsey Welborn, Myles Darby, Alanna Lloyd, Caroline Mabee and Jessica Duda.

At the Intermediate Level Natalia Ciesielska received a gold medal.

At the Beginner Level two gold medals were awarded to Andrew Moon and Anna Perkins and two silver medals awarded to Matthew Kalt and Owen Devlin-Gauthier.

At the end of the competition, the top three overall finalists are named. Alison Cherrington took first place, and Myles Darby took second place.

The 36th Annual Olympiada is tentatively scheduled for March 6, 2011. The top finalist at the 2011 Regional Olympiada will be eligible to interview for one of fifteen slots on the U.S. Team. The next International Olympiada, held every four years, takes place in Moscow in summer 2011.