Dear Professor Dina Mokhnatkin,
I participated in the STARTALK Russian program in the summer of 2016 at California State University at Northridge. I want to thank you once more for the opportunity to advance my Russian language abilities and cultural understanding with the program. Moreover, because of the rigorous and intensive immersion class structure, I have become much more confident in my speaking abilities in Russian. I gained a stronger grasp of contemporary Russian customs, traditions and sentiments while also strengthening core grammar concepts and vocabulary. The emphasis of the course on spoken Russian was invaluable and helped me to retain what I learned through repetition and application in class. It must also be said that the trip to Russian-influenced West Hollywood was an experience I will never forget. For me, it was a very important part of the STARTALK program.
Since my time with STARTALK I have completed my bachelor's degree at Florida State University in Russian and East European Studies and graduated with Honors. I have received a Melikian Scholars Award and a Melikian Center Advisory Board Award by the Critical Language Institute of Arizona State University to allow me to study at the Derzhavin Institute (Russian language school) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. There I will study for two months this summer while living with a Russian host family. In a large way, this is thanks to the nurturing, educational environment and immersion experience provided to me by the STARTALK program at CSUN. The STARTALK team and its instructors gave me the tools necessary to take this next level and study Russian in Russia. I will be forever grateful for all that you and the STARTALK team have done for me. I will continue to work hard in order to return the favor.
Thank you,
Justin Fuentes-Keuthan