The annual Slavic talent show and awards ceremony on April 31 celebrated the achievements of our students. Once again this year, a large number of awards were won by Slavic language students, from national awards and honor society memberships to local scholarships and fellowships.
ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest
This year, U of I students outdid even last year's stellar results in the annual ACTR essay contest. Our students emerged with 2 Silver medals , 7 Bronze medals, and 9 honorable mentions. Silver medal winners were Benjamin Kazinsky and Nicholas McClintock, and Tom Radojkovic was one of many to receive Bronze.
U of I Slavic Essay Contest
While we hope to see official national essay contests for other Slavic languages soon, in the meantime we continued to hold our own, local essay contest. The Gold medalists were as follows: Bulgarian: Alexander Atanassov and Glen Layne-Worthey; Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian: Daria Ponomareva and Leila Becković; Polish: Natalia Dobosz and Isabella van de Burgt; and Ukrainian: Maria Glukhova and Viktoria Mykytsei.
ACTR Scholar Laureate Award
Once again, a Slavic major was recognized for their accomplishments and achievements in the study of Russian language and literature as a Scholar Laureate. Congratulations to Louise Shannon on this wonderful recognition! We expect more great things to come.
Dobro Slovo National Slavic Honor Society
Professor George Gasyna inducted 3 new members into Dobro Slovo: Isidora Kostic (Psychology and Slavic double major, with a South Slavic Studies Concentration), Louise Shannon (Slavic major, Russian Language, Literature, and Culture Concentration), Victoria Siek (History and REEES double major). The inductees are now lifetime members of the society, which recognizes achievement in Slavic studies.
Vekich Scholarships
Two students were selected to receive Vekich Scholarships for South Slavic Studies for the coming year. Each will receive a $1000 scholarship. They are Laurie Sterzinger, double majoring in Linguistics and REEES, and Petar Djuric, with an undeclared major (no pressure, but we hear Slavic is a great option).
Maltby Fellowship
The Scott Kane Maltby Memorial Fund Fellowship this year is awarded to Maria Glukhova, in recognition of her fine qualities as a graduate student: her intellectual curiosity and consistent engagement.
Slavic Department Outstanding Teaching Assistant
This year the Department recognizes Daria Ponomareva for her many contributions to our language classrooms, including excellent results this year both for first-year Russian and for her work with the heritage speakers' group.