After the 2020 K-12 Russian Olympiada was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SEELC and the Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (CSEEES) successfully held the 2021 competition in a virtual format over the past two weeks. Two schools participated in this year’s competition: Walnut Hill High School and REC Bookvarel, both from the Cincinnati region. 30 students competed at levels 1 through 5 in the regular and heritage categories.

A huge thank you to our very busy graduate students and lecturers for contributing their time and accommodating the schools’ schedules and students’ availabilities: Aleksandra Shubina, Sofia Bachman, Natalia Sletova, Mykyta Tyshchenko, Dr. Matt Boyd, Viktoria Kim, Dr. Helen Myers and Dr. David McVey.

Special thanks as well to CSEEES Assistant Director Eileen Kunkler and CSEEES Outreach Coordinator Alicia Baca for their help coordinating the event with the schools and making sure we adhered to the official policies and requirements (and for writing tons of e-mails!).

And of course a huge thanks to the teachers of both schools, who optimistically and enthusiastically supported the idea about having the Olympiada this year and worked hard to prepare the students.