2022–2023 School Year in Review

Dear Parents,

We are pleased to share a brief overview of Russian School Erudite’s 2022–2023 school year.

• Russian School Erudite has now been serving our community for eight years.

• Our school has 245 students, ages 3 to 15.

• Our faculty includes 50 teachers and teaching assistants.

• Students attend 21 in-person classes, grouped according to age and Russian-language proficiency.

• This year, the school sponsored 21 high school students — compared with 9 last year — who successfully passed the NEWL Russian Language Exam, an advanced Russian proficiency exam that replaced the former AP Russian exam. Irina Ryan taught both in-person and online NEWL preparation classes.

• Seven students graduated from Russian School Erudite this year and received their diplomas.

• In addition to our core academic program, taught during the first four class periods, Erudite offers 13 educational and creative clubs, 6 specialized studios, and 3 programming clubs.

Our Achievements

School Events and Special Programs

This year was filled with exciting educational, cultural, and creative events:

• We introduced a new monthly theme format, with each month dedicated to a particular topic. Two major school-wide projects — “Our Pets” and “Polite Words” — were part of this initiative, along with themed open classes throughout the school.

• For the first time, students in Grades 1 and 2 participated in Science Day, presenting their own science projects and conducting fascinating experiments.

• Our students met with writers Marina Abrams and Maria Danilova. Young journalists interviewed Marina Abrams and hosted two talk shows with Maria Danilova. These activities were organized by Ksenia Turkova, director of the Erudite Times Press Club.

• Erudite students, together with students from the Erudite Club in Milwaukee, participated in an online meeting with Russian-speaking students and graduates of American and European universities.

• Our intermediate and older groups presented the annual “Malyshok” concert.

• Film Day featured a showcase of videos created by students of the FRAME Film School, led by Shamil Najafzade.

• As always, some of our most memorable celebrations took place during the New Year season. Preschoolers enjoyed lively holiday performances and traditional circle dances led by Marina and Yaroslava Zonova, while the Karusel Theater Studio presented “Alice in Wonderland.”

• This year, Erudite even got its very own New Year song, “Happy New Year, Erudite!” The lyrics were written by Elena Ayanyan, with music by Alexander Bondarev. It was performed for the first time by students of the Harmony Vocal Studio, led by Elena Ayanyan.

• During the holiday celebrations, the Akvarelka Art Studio, led by Irina Drozd, presented an exhibition of student artwork.

• Our students attended a concert by the MuzAlliance Duo, featuring Anna Kusner on guitar and Petr Omelchenkoon domra.

Six New Stage Productions

This school year, our creative groups presented an impressive six premieres:

• The Melody Musical Theater, led by Elena Ayanyan, presented the musical “The Bremen Town Musicians.”

• The Karusel Theater Studio, under the artistic direction of Zuleikha and Shamil Najafzade, presented four productions: “Eugene Onegin,” “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights,” “English Nursery Rhymes,” and “The King’s Breakfast.”

• The Teremok Puppet Theater, led by Larisa Sbornova and Natalia Grishina, presented “Mixed-Up Fairy Tales.”

Competitions and Academic Success

Throughout the year, our students proudly represented Erudite in regional and international competitions and programs:

• Living Classics International Young Readers Competition — 17 students participated, five advanced to the national round, and two received special awards in the finals. Students were prepared by Natalia Grishina, Karine Dabagyan, and Zuleikha Najafzade.

• Advanced Russian: Level I & Level II — our high school Russian-language program accredited by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) for academic credit. Eight students participated this year: seven earned 0.5 credit after completing the first year, while one student successfully completed the two-year program and earned 1 full high school credit.

• The Karusel Theater Studio, with its production “Shakespeare on Love,” and the FRAME Film School, led by Shamil Najafzade, were both recognized as award winners at the international “Constellation” Competition.

• The international Kangaroo Mathematics Competition in Russian was hosted at our school, with 42 students participating. The school’s mathematics program was led by Natalia Grishina.

• Two chess tournaments for young players were held at the Tysons Chamber of Commerce. Our students also had the exciting opportunity to participate in a simultaneous chess exhibition with Grandmaster Rashad Babaev. Russian School Erudite sponsored these events. At the end of the year, all our young chess players received a special surprise — new 3D chess sets. The Chess Club is led by Nikolai Mounts.

Thank You!

We sincerely thank our entire faculty and staff for another successful year, and we are especially grateful to you, our parents, for your continued support, involvement, and dedication to the life of our school!