ATAD Exchange Students From Velikiy Novgorod: Keeping
linkages connected
Two students from Velikiy Novgorod spent the 2016-17 school
year in the Rochester area. Daria Zhogina studied at Penfield High School and
Milana Osipova studied at School of the Arts. Both of these exchange students
have other connections to Rochester and represent the impact of our exchanges
on generations of families. Much of the work of education, and people to people
diplomacy, is difficulty to quantify but it is interesting to trace our
connections over the years.
Daria is staying with Sarah Shaw, and ESL teacher who
traveled to Novgorod in summer 2016 for our teacher to Russia exchange. Dasha’s
grandmother hosted Sarah while she was on exchange. Additionally Dasha’s
grandmother is Natalia Zhogina, an English teacher who came to Rochester on
exchange in 2010. Dasha lives with Sarah, Sarah’s son Noah, Sarah’s boyfriend
Mike, and the family dog, Fletcher. Highlights have been singing in the choir,
prom, and many, many family trips to DC, Boston, and snowboarding!!
Milana is the niece of Marina Sweeny, an ESL teacher and
Novgorod native, who has been living in Rochester for more than 15 years. She
is staying with Kristine Fredrick and her dog, Bozha, and studying Dance at
SOTA. Milana has been very active in promoting Russian culture and language in
the Rochester area by helping Marina with the Saturday Russian school and
attending Russian classes at RIT. She adds native speaker practice for
Marina’s students. Highlights have been performing in the spring dance concert,
a solo dance in the senior show, and meeting friends from all around the
world.
While language learning has been the greatest
focus, other learning
happens on exchange too. Greater independence with cooking, cleaning and
making
friends are new challenges the young women both took on at home. They
also both
learned new dance styles, helped to train new pets with the host
families, went to festivals, dances, concerts, haunted hayride, and
sports events, hiked in parks, and witnessed our election and some
protests.
Experiencing family holidays in another culture is probably the most
intimate
part of the exchange for all the families and students.
