Friday, January 25, 2008
Guest Speaker Entertains in Russian
Recently the high school AVID classes had the opportunity to hear Russian spoken and sung, as well as to see it written, when Russian major Gwen Grewe visited. Gwen, a former AVID student herself at Heidelberg Middle School a few years ago, majored in Russian at American University in Washington, DC. She became interested in the language when she traveled to Russia with the Model United Nations program in Heidelberg. She then took four years of it in high school before going to American U. While in college, she spent a year abroad in St. Petersburg to perfect her skills. She lived with a Russian host family and took classes in the language as well as immersed herself in the culture.
Now, Gwen is able to utilize her Russian skills as a project analyst with a government contracting company. She travels several times a year back to Russia on her job.
Since one of Gwen's interests is the study of voice, an AVID student asked her to sing something in Russian, which she did, earning her a big round of applause from the class.
When asked to explain her motto, "Eat dessert first," Gwen explained that she was always fed a lot of filling food in Russia and didn't have room for dessert unless she ate it first!
Thanks for taking time from your vacation to share your experiences with AVID!
