Russian teacher Ed Miller plans to “graduate” with the class of 2014. Each year very few incoming freshmen students show interest in wanting to learn the Russian language. Being in the last Russian class of  five students, and with the devastating loss of our dear friend Xavia, it has motivated me to want to do the very best I can to help our class exit strong.

When asked, many people decided not to take Russian because of its stereotypical difficult grammar.  The best advice I could give to someone discouraged by this same reason is to start small. My freshman year of Russian was a great experience. Every day we built on our vocabulary while learning about Russian history. This year, as a sophomore in Russian 2 I beganto see the connection of different skills we have learned back in freshman year. Learning the Russian language is not hard as long as you start small and build along the way. Miller always tells us “мало-помалy” which means little by little and “повторение мать учения” which means repetition is the mother of learning.

Having a small class of five is a great benefit when it comes to learning and interacting. Individual attention is highly granted in this class. I feel as though learning and understanding Russian grammar is easier than understanding English grammar.

A few individuals that were interested in learning Russian currently tutor with Miller. Many of Miller’s previous students have graduated from John Carroll and took on internationally high jobs. Jennifer McIntyre, class of ’87, received the highest award given in the Foreign Service award and currently works in the U.S. Consul in India. Also, Valarie Chittenden of the graduating 1992 class is now a U.S. Consul as well in Dubai, United Emirates.

Although my Russian class and I are the last Russian class at John Carroll, the hard work and dedication we have put into this class will hopefully encourage John Carroll to keep the class and more students to take it.

Brianna George is a reporter for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.