Russian Language & Area Studies at St. Olaf

The Inaugural Minnesota Collegiate Olympiada of Russian Language

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Ashley Morse

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Around 40 students and faculty from Russian-language programs across Minnesota gathered at St. Olaf for the inaugural Minnesota Collegiate Olympiada of Spoken Russian.

On Saturday, April 11, St. Olaf hosted the first-ever college-level “Olympiada” or Olympics of Spoken Russian in Minnesota. We invited around 40 students and faculty from the Russian language programs at the University of Minnesota, Macalester, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Carleton).

Students competed at the first-, second-, and third-year language levels in three different events: the oral interview, poetry recital, and “bilety” or cards, which required them to draw two random topics cards and choose one to speak about.

Traditional Russian and Central Asian food for the event was provided by .

Next year’s Olympiada is provisionally scheduled for mid-April and will be hosted by Macalester.

The Medalists. Front Row (From Left): Taha Alnasser (UMN), First-Year Silver; Liv Whitmore (Macalester), Third-Year+ Gold; Silas Buryak (UMN), Second-Year Silver; Elle Davis (St. Olaf), Third-Year+ Silver. Back Row (From Left): Gaia Miller-Guitton (St. Olaf), First-Year Bronze; Parker Chelikowsky (St. Olaf), First-Year Gold; Franklin Brezee (Gustavus), Second-year Bronze; Paul Murphy (St. Olaf), Second-Year Gold; Charlie Rhodes (Carleton), Third-Year+ Bronze.

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