Fourteen Foss High School students competed in the NW Olympiada of Spoken Russian at the University of Washington on March 21. Foss earned first place in the overall competition and swept four of the six levels, earning top honors in first year, third year, fourth year and fifth year.
The overall winner was Andrew Huo, who will be the Northwest's entry in the International Olympiada of Spoken Russian in Moscow, Russia, this summer. He also earned free tuition in the University of Washington's Intensive Russian Summer Language program.
Gold medalists were Paul Shields (first year), Andrew Huo (third year), Artem Demchenkov (fourth year), Stan Walmer (fifth year), Olga Martemyanova, Dmitriy Svezhentsev, and Irina Rabiyevskaya (all three native speakers).
Those earning silver medals were Jaymie Sherman (first year), Yuri Lutsyuk (second year), Yelena Maslova, Tanya Walmer (both third year), Katy Kruchinina and Seth Malanchuk (both native speakers). Carole Stoddard earned a bronze medal.
The Foss High School Russian language program was started as an after-school club in the 1980s by Dr. Valerie Navarro, who developed a unique teaching system for the language and built the program into the powerhouse that it is, turning over the reins to Dr. Daniel Erickson in 1998. In the last 10 Olympiadas, Foss has won the regional competition seven times.
Contact Dr. Daniel Erickson at Foss at 253.571.7300 for more information on the Olympiada and Foss’ Russian language program.