Freshman Wins Gold Russian Olympiada Award

Join Parker in congratulating freshman Annoshae Mirza for participating in the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) Olympiada of Spoken Russian and winning a Gold Medal! Launched in the late 1960s and drawing on the long-established practice of oral exams and competitions within the Russian educational system, the Olympiada provides American students with a forum in which to demonstrate their achievement in Russian language study, while conversing with native speakers of Russian and meeting with students of Russian from schools other than their own.

Mirza first grew interested in Slavic studies thanks to her 6th grade teacher and advisor George Drury. Drury was the first person to open up her world to Russian literature and support her with many novels, short stories and poems by Russian authors. Recently, Mirza joined social media to use her facility with Russian to highlight and celebrate Ukraine, choosing to focus not on the war but on celebrating the people, culture, history and literature of Ukraine. This idea sprung from an experience with music teachers Rob Denien and Emma Castaldi, who gave her the opportunity to perform a Ukrainian folk song at the spring concert. Speaking on her daughter’s tremendous achievements, Armeen Mirza wrote, “I am so pleased that she is using technology for a good purpose and her language skills for advocacy and global citizenship.”

Parker is very proud of Mirza’s tremendous efforts and invites you to join the school in extending support and encouragement as she further pursues her passions in language!