WKU News

As we close out this academic year, we'd love to highlight our students' accomplishments! Congratulations to our students in Russian 102 & 202! These students won competing at the 44th Annual National Russian Essay Contest (NREC) in November of 2025. Through their hard work and active engagement, they earned 4 gold medals and 4 silver medals! The NREC provides students with a unique opportunity to demonstrate their Russian language written proficiency and to be recognized for their progress.

On March 7th, 20 students from both classes also participated in the ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian held at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. WKU Modern Languages is delighted to uplift the participating students who received awards: 6 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal. These awards recognize the students’ proficiency in Russian conversation, poetry recitation, and Russian civilization at various levels of study. We are very proud of our students’ accomplishments! 

The students were guided (literally and metaphorically) by WKU alum, Margot Hare, pictured with the class in the graphic accompanying this article. Margot is a Gatton Academy alumna and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in the Russian Language program at the Ohio State University. She kindly gave the students a tour of the campus in Columbus, Ohio. In 2020, Margot was in the Gatton Academy STEM + Russian Program. 

Want to learn more about Modern Languages? Take a class, attend our events on campus, or visit the Honors College for more connection! Russian courses are offered with WKU Modern Languages and taught by instructor Ekaterina Myakshina. Join us this Fall for the Russian 101-102 bi-term class! With language learning, Russian has been designated as a “Critical Language” for national security and economic competitiveness. Students majoring in the arts, humanities, and sciences have successfully completed coursework in Russian at WKU. 

Russian Language Courses:
https://www.wku.edu/modernlanguages/russian/index.php