Olympiada+2009

=Olympiada 2009=

Photo by Anna Murphey/New Jersey Herald
Sparta High School Russian language students, Jen Tobin, 17, Sam Giugliano, 16, Sarah Calderone, 18, and Jessica Ross, 15, left to right, who swept the recent Olympiada of Spoken Russian look over a map of Moscow’s subway system. Calderone finished first and the other three girls came in second place.

By CHRISTINA TATU ctatu@njherald.com SPARTA -- It gained popularity in the late 1950s with the Soviet Union's launch of the first Sputnik satellite. Schools across the nation scrambled to establish Russian language programs so their students might have a leg up in the future space race. Fifty years later, while most schools are giving up their Russian classes in favor of more common languages, like Spanish, French and German, Sparta High School is keeping it's Russian program strong. Several of Eric Hood's Russian students recently placed tops in the annual Olympiada of Spoken Russian, a series of regional and state competitions for high school level Russian language students in the United States. Sarah Calderone, 18, a Sparta High School senior, scored the highest out of all 220 participants at the March 25 New Jersey Olympiada, at Drew University in Madison. Her classmates, junior Jen Tobin, 17, junior Sam Giugliano, 16, and sophomore Jessica Ross, 15, all qualified for the second place category. "One of the judges asked me if I was Russian," Calderone said. She will be headed to Drew University in the fall, where she plans to major in Russian and political science. The winner of the competition and runner up qualify for a trip to Moscow to spend a week attending language courses and camp, but Calderone said between getting ready for college and her other summer activities, she will be too busy to go. Sparta High School students have a long history of success in the Olympiada. Last year, Ian Myre won the competition, and spent a week in Moscow. "It exposes them to other speakers," Hood said. "They can get so used to hearing their teachers speak, but here they are able to hear men and women speaking. They get used to speakers from all over the world." None of his students will attend the Olympiada trip this year, but about 15 students are attending a school-sponsored trip to Russia in June. Hood said Sparta is only one of 14 schools across the state to offer a Russian program. Of the 220 students at the Olympiada, 103 were from Sparta High School. Sparta offers the largest Russian program in the state, he said. Although Russian has fallen out of favor in many school districts, Hood said it will be an especially valuable language the next several years. "Russia is always going to be a major player," Hood said. "Some of the largest oil supplies are located in Russia and they are building natural gas pipelines." Students participating in the Olympiada were judged by their knowledge of the language in several categories. They had to answer questions about Russian history, art and culture -- and they were required to give all answers in Russian. The questions could not be satisfied with one-word answers, the girls pointed out. For one question, Giugliano had to sing a Russian folk song called "Moscow Nights." "It was scary to sing, but the judges seemed to like it," she said. Like the other girls, Tobin said she decided to study Russian because it's so different from the traditional European languages taught in school. All four students began studying Russian in middle school and said their Russian teacher, Suzanne Jouravlev, inspired them to continue their studies into high school. "My parents wanted me to take Spanish because so many people speak it now, but Russian was different and that's what sold me on it," Tobin said. Calderone said Russian now is considered a critical language, along with Chinese and Arabic, meaning more than ever, United States companies are seeking individuals who are able to speak those languages. "It's pretty cool when you are out and you pass by someone who is speaking Russian and you can actually understand what they are saying," she said.

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=Mrs. Jouravlev, Mr Hood and Mr Brennan congratulate the winners of this year's competition, as well as everyone who participated in this year's event. Great job!=