Russian language students perform well at state
Seven Juneau-Douglas High School Russian language students participated in the annual state Russian Olympiad on April 18 in Anchorage. Five of them presented on video, and two took the actual trip to Anchorage.
"The results exceeded all expectations," said Janna Lelchuk, JDHS Russian language teacher. "Everyone got a medal. All together students brought home four gold medals, one silver and one bronze."
Shaun Nesheim, second-year Russian student, who competed in Anchorage in the most advanced levels, Levels 3-4, became a state finalist.
Nesheim was selected for the second round of competition, where only six best finalists competed, and won. He also won a trip to Russia for a three-week stay. Nesheim will travel to Vladimir, Russia, in June with 15 other national winners. He will be Alaska's sole representative.
Other JDHS students also demonstrated excellent performance at state. In Level 4, Kristina Paulick won a gold medal, and Samuel Messerschmidt won a silver. In Level 3, Briana Donahue won the gold, and Lindsay Birk won the bronze. In Level 1, Olivia Pitessa won the gold, and Sarah Phelan won the silver.
"The Olympiad showed one more time how important language programs are in our life today," Lelchuk said. "After the competition, students had a chance to visit various sessions offering talks about Russia and showing future perspectives for students learning Russian."
The Russian Language Olympiad is an oral competition, where students talk to judges on different topics, answer questions and recite a poem, all in the target language - Russian. This year, there were more than 200 participants from all over Alaska.