2023–2024 School Year in Review

Dear Parents,

We are pleased to share a brief overview of Russian School Erudite’s 2023–2024 school year.

• On September 7, 2024, Russian School Erudite began its 10th school year!

• More than 270 students, ages 3 to 17, attend our school.

• Our faculty includes 52 teachers and teaching assistants.

• Students attend 23 in-person classes, grouped according to age and Russian-language proficiency.

• This year, the school sponsored 11 high school students (compared with 21 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.

• In addition to our core academic program, taught during the first four class periods, Erudite offers 13 educational and creative clubs, 5 mathematics groups, 3 levels of LEGO Robotics, and 2 school theaters — the Karusel Theater Studio and the Melody Musical Theater.

• Our school also offers Ukrainian and Kazakh language classes.

Our Achievements

School Events and Special Programs

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

• Each month was dedicated to a special theme. As part of this initiative, we organized two major school-wide projects — “Our Pets” and “The Seasons.” Themed open classes were also held in nearly every grade.

• Students in Grades 1 and 2 participated in our “Eureka!” Science Conference, where they presented their own science projects and conducted fascinating experiments.

• Our intermediate and older groups took part in the annual “Malyshok” concert. Together with Grandma Zabavushka (Marina Zonova), the children solved riddles, answered questions, played games, and sang songs.

• In celebration of Film and Theater Day, students enjoyed a showcase of films created by the FRAME Film School, led by Shamil Najafzade.

• As always, some of our brightest celebrations took place during the New Year season. Preschoolers enjoyed the magical “A Visit to Mother Hulda” celebration with traditional circle dances, led by Marina and Yaroslava Zonova. The school also presented the festive concert “New Year in the Land of Fantasy,” directed by Marina Zonova.

• During the holiday celebrations, student artwork was showcased in exhibitions by the Akvarelka Art Studio, led by Irina Drozd, and the Crafts Club, led by Nazeli Nersesyan.

• For the first time, our high school students participated in the “World of Professions” project. Guest speakers — including a physician, attorney, diplomat, financial professional, economist, business owner, microbiologist, engineer, and computer designer — introduced students to their careers, discussed the importance of education, and answered their many questions.

• Our high school students from the Journalism Club, led by Ksenia Turkova, visited the National Gallery of Art, where they explored an exhibition by renowned American photographer and photojournalist Dorothea Lange. They also interviewed art historian Anna Robert for an upcoming episode of the school podcast. Throughout the year, young reporters from Erudite Times, together with students from the Erudite Club in Milwaukee, conducted online interviews with prominent Russian-speaking journalists from around the world.

Our Creative Productions

This school year, our performing arts groups presented several exciting new productions:

• The Melody Musical Theater, led by Elena Ayanyan, presented “Aladdin’s Magic Lamp.”

• Students of the Karusel Theater Studio, led by Zuleikha and Shamil Najafzade, performed “In Our Neighborhood.”

• The younger and older groups of our school Dance Studio, led by Olga Ermilina, prepared lively dance performances for both productions.

Competitions and Academic Success

Throughout the year, our students proudly represented Erudite in school-wide, regional, and international competitions:

• Living Classics International Young Readers Competition — 30 students from Grades 4B and 6 participated, with two advancing to the U.S. national round. Students were prepared by Irina Grabelnikova, Irina Shmal, Gulbarshyn Nurmanova, and Natalia Kovaleva, with professional support from Zuleikha Najafzade and Karine Dabagyan.

• 4th “Word Factory” International Creative Writing Competition for Russian-Speaking Children Living Abroad — 16 students from Grades 1 through 6 participated. This year, students wrote fairy tales and stories incorporating the words “Masha” and “tree.” All entries were submitted to the competition committee in Paris.

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

• At the international “Constellation” Festival, the Karusel Theater Studio, led by Zuleikha Najafzade, won the Best Classical Production category with “Eugene Onegin: Scenes from the Novel,” directed by Shamil Najafzade.

• Our school mathematics competition brought together 32 students ages 6 to 12, under the direction of Natalia Grishina, head of our mathematics program.

• Our annual school chess tournament featured 19 young chess players. In February, we also welcomed Grandmaster Rashad Babaev (FIDE rating 2535). He spoke with students about his chess career, answered their questions, and then challenged them in a simultaneous exhibition. Throughout the year, Rashad also conducted monthly online master classes for the intermediate and advanced Chess Club groups. The Chess Club was led by Alexander Reznikov.

Thank You!

We sincerely thank our entire faculty and staff for their professionalism and dedication, and the parents of our wonderful students for their active involvement, continued support, and invaluable contribution to our school community!