Winners: William Heatley (with guitar), a sophomore from Tamarac High School in Troy, NY and Margarette Keesee (third from left), a junior from Guilderland High School. Runners up were Jarita Liang (2nd from left) from Guilderland and Zilpa Okuor from Albany High School (4th from left).
In 2013, the Alliance held its second Biennial Olympiad in Russian Studies. The Olympiad is a contest, held every other year in the month of March, between students from the various high schools in the Albany area. Participation is voluntary and primarily self-selected. The winners of the contest get an all-expenses paid trip to Tula with a stopover in Moscow.
Students who volunteer compete in three rounds of competition. Round One is a test of 18 questions about Russian history and culture. To answer these questions, the student used the Internet to research information. A “webpathfinder” is provided to help the student in his research. Round Two is an in-class test on Tula’s history and culture. Professors from Tula State University helped draft the test on their native city. The Round Three is the presentation of a Russian icon by those students who successfully completed Rounds One and Two. A list of “Russian icons” is provided to the students. An icon may be a famous emperor, politician, writer, scientist, sports person, event in folklore, virtually anything that signifies Russian culture to the student.
This year a truly exceptional group of students participated in Olympiad with seven reaching Round Three. The presentations were held in the library of the Albany High School at 700 Washington Avenue on Thursday, March 28th. The Alliance would like to express their deep thanks to Interim Principal Cecily L. Wilson and High School Librarian, Alicia Abdul for the warmth and hospitality with which the students were welcomed at the library.
The subjects of the icon presentation were diverse, exciting, and compelling: Baba Yaga – the evil witch, the White Night of St. Petersburg – Boris Grebenschikov, the father of Russian Rock in the 1970s and 80s – Michael Gorbachev, and Dimitri Mendeleev – the famous chemist and creator of the periodic tables of the elements.
Given the choice of icons and the skill and creativity with which they were presented, the judges had a hard time making a decision. After much deliberation a decision was reached.
Margarette Keesee a junior from Guilderland High School and William Heatley, a sophomore from Tamarac High School in Troy both won 1st place.
Keesee presented an intriguing powerpoint presentation on Baba Yaga while Heatley spoke about the life and creative activity of Boris Grebenschikov. Heatley incorporated his guitar and sang one of Grebenschikov’s songs in Russian.
The ATA salutes both students and looks forward to traveling with them and the International Department at Tula State University this fall.
Everyone by definition cannot be a winner but we salute the other students for their hard work, perseverance, and creativity. Each student receives a certificate of achievement to be awarded in May when guests from Tula will visit Albany and attend the awards ceremony. All students will also be invited to make their presentations in some of the area schools to promote an understanding of Russian culture in the Capital Region.
Finally, we would like to thank the teachers and staff who assisted in research and presentations: Galina Kats, Supervisor of Foreign Languages. North Colonie, Bernard McKann, Social Studies teacher, North Warren Central School, Chestertown, NY, Robert Baker, Social Studies, Guilderland High School, Alicia Abdul, Librarian, Albany High, and Angela Wright, teacher of Russian, Tamarac High School, Troy.