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“Community” is a word Anya Gorodentsev uses a lot when looking back on her career at ����̽̽. As she prepares to graduate with dual degrees in political science and Russian, she values many different relationships she formed around sports, academics, and international travel.

With a deep interest in international relations, she picked political science as her major and Russian as a minor—her father is from Moscow and her mother studied the language in college. “I hadn’t learned to read or write in Russian, but I had some background in the language through my parents and I thought it would be a great compliment to my major,” she said.

Gorodentsev decided to study abroad for the fall semester of her junior year, taking Russian language studies in St. Petersburg. The program encouraged fluency in the language—she stayed with a host family and all of her classes were conducted in Russian. She made the most of her visit, looking for other ways to connect with people in her new community. A jumper and sprinter on the ����̽̽ track team, she even found a team she could compete with in St. Petersburg. 

She volunteered as an English tutor for a seven-year-old, an experience that brought her closer to another local family and helped improve her conversational Russian.