Seven Students of Russian Earn National Honors

On an afternoon in February, in a classroom in Reed Hall, 10 students sat down to write an essay for the 18th annual National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest, sponsored by the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR)—joining more than 1,300 other undergraduate essay-writers from 67 schools nationwide. 

Alfia Rakova, a research assistant professor and director of the Russian department’s language program, opened an envelope to reveal this year’s topic: “An Important Person in My Life / Важный человек в моей жизни.” The students had an hour to write. “No dictionaries, nothing, just black or blue pen,” says Rakova.

For the full article please go to the Dartmouth News

Congratulations to the winners of the Eighteenth Annual ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest. In this year’s contest, there were 1,326 essays submitted from 67 universities, colleges, and institutions across the nation. Three judges read each essay and independently ranked them. This is the first time Dartmouth has 5 medal winners, including 3 GOLD medals!

Topic: Please write a short essay based on the following topic: “An Important Person in My Life / Важный человек в моей жизни.”

Gold Medal (Catergory B, Level 2)
Matus Petrovsky, Dartmouth College

Gold Medal (Category C, Level 3)
Timothy Messen, Dartmouth College

Gold Medal (Category C, Level 4)      
Ksenia Ryzhova, Dartmouth College

Silver Medal (Category C, Level 2)
Maria Jarostchuk, Dartmouth College

Bronze Medal (Category A, Level 2) 
Amanda Durfee, Dartmouth College

Honorable Mention (Category A, Level 2)
Allyssa Austin, Dartmouth College

Honorable Mention (Category B, Level 3)
Luka Pejanovic, Dartmouth College