ATAD Exchange Velikiy Novgorod: Keeping linkages connected

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.