In November 2010, 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 "Why travel?" How they approached the theme was up to them. Fifty-eight high school Russian programs with a total of 1,174 students participated in the contest. At the Advanced level, thirty-seven gold medals were awarded. Amherst received seven 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, Aravis Albert, Myles Darby, Aliza Micelotta, Genevieve Higgins and Jessie Duda. Silver medals went to: Molly Schulman, Alison Cherrington, and Kelsey Welborn.
The following awards were earned at the intermediate level: Gold medals to Maddie Auerbach and Natalia Ciesielska. Silver medal to Karol Blair.
The following awards were earned at the beginner level (Russian 2): Gold medal to Matt Kalt. Silvers medals to Anna Perkins, Owen Gauthier and Charlotte Woynar. Bronze medals to Rachel Verts and Delaney Griffith-Johnson.
On Sunday, May 1, 2011, six ARHS Russian students participated in the 36th Annual New England Olympiada of Spoken Russian. The competition consistsof two rounds. The first round consistsof 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 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 a gold medal went to Natalia Ciesielska and bronze medal to Karol Blair.
At the Intermediate Level Anna Perkins, Nikita Peshkov, and Rachel Verts received gold medals. A silver medal was awarded to Matthew Kalt.
At the end of the competition, the top three overall finalists are named. Natalia Ciesielska took first place.