Marywood University’s women’s lacrosse team to host 2nd annual Jack-O-Lantern 5K Walk/Run

Neon Trees’ Glenn gets personal

First Posted: 6/19/2014 Allison Stroyan was perfect, but that almost wasn&#8217;t enough to earn her a trip to Moscow, Russia to compete in the 13th International Olympiada of Spoken Russian June 5-12 against students from all over the world.
Stroyan, then a senior at Abington Heights High School, finished with a perfect score during the 8th annual Delaware Valley Olympiada of the Russian Language at Temple University in Philadelphia March 18.
According to ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian National Co-Chair Mark Trotter, she won a gold medal and was the most outstanding performer in Level 4 of the Regular Category. She also won a special book prize and a will receive a letter of letter of recommendation from the president of the American Council of Teachers of Russian.
Since this was an international year, the student with the highest score advanced for consideration of placement on the United States National team.
Stroyan was not initially named to the team, but advanced through an application and interview process to earn a spot.
Only six of 21 eligible high school students selected for the national team.
&#8220;I think a lot hinged on the interview,&#8221; Stroyan said. &#8220;They wanted to hear us speak and learn how we would handle different situations.&#8221;
Stroyan was pleased with her first visit to the county and would like to study abroad, and someday live in Russia.
&#8220;For me, the most enjoyable part of the trip was the people from all the different countries,&#8221; Stroyan said. &#8220;They were all very nice. All the students were very friendly, there was never any animosity during the competition.&#8221;
Despite challenging oral exams and tough competition, Stroyan earned a silver medal at the competition.
&#8220;It was a little intimidating because a lot of the students from other countries were either native or heritage Russian speakers,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The judges were pretty nice to us, it was just a little intimidating.&#8221;
Although she learned a lot of the tenses on her own time, she believes interacting and speaking with her teacher and classmates at Abington Heights in Russian helped prepare her for the competition, and helped reinforce her knowledge of the language.
Stroyan plans to attend Dickinson College and will likely major in Russian.

Abington Heights grad competes in international Russian competition