RSCO Feature: Russian Club

RSCO Feature: Russian Club

Natalia Joseph, Contributing writer

Hello, and welcome to Russian Club!

Mercyhurst’s Russian Club was created four years ago and has been reinvigorated with the help of club officers over the past few years.

The current club president is senior Natalia Joseph, who works with vice president Annabel Klatil, secretary Sarah Klein and treasurer Jack Kregness. The adviser of Russian Club is Kathryn Duda, Ph.D., Mercyhurst’s assistant professor of Russian Studies.

The purpose of Russian Club is to celebrate Russian and Eastern European culture and language. The club strives to educate students, faculty and members of the community about the position of Russia in our global society, and thus about the importance and applicability of Russian language and culture at Mercyhurst.

The most fundamental aspect of the Russian Club is to provide an area where Russian language learners can speak the language outside of a classroom setting. Moreover, students are surrounded by people of different levels, allowing them to pick up new words or phrases that they may not know yet.

However, if you do not know Russian, or are new to the language – fear not!

If you are interested in coming to the events for the cultural aspect, members are always happy to chat over a cup of tea in English.

The club seeks to create a constructive and fun environment through active participation in Russian cultural events. Many of these holidays center on Eastern Orthodox religion.

Individuals interested in history, politics or intelligence would find these topics helpful for their education.
Russian Club hosts a variety of events throughout the year with the help of the Russian Fulbright who travels to Mercyhurst each year.

Events often involve a presentation or movie night, although there are many Russian tea services. At these teas, the club prepares traditional Russian food and tea while discussing various aspects of Russian history, politics, culture or language.

One of the club’s biggest events of the year, Maslenitsa, took place on March 19. Club members celebrated the arrival of Lent, which is an important Russian time period, by feasting on many traditional Russian blini (or crepes)!

– This was a contributed piece from the club president