Russian student Katherine DeBroeck was recently awarded the FYS Excellence in Writing Award for the class of 2019, together with fellow first-year student Anh Duc Do. Katherine’s winning paper is titled, “A Love-Hate Thing: The Paradoxical Relationship between College Administrators and On-Campus Feminism in the 1970s.” She used primary source materials from the Dickinson College archives to tell the story of the Women’s Group, a feminist organization on campus in the 1970s.
About her choice to study Russian, Katherine says: “I chose Russian because I knew I loved languages but I had been studying Latin and wanted to move on to a modern language that would challenge me. I chose Russian specifically because it is so relevant in current world affairs and because Russian history and culture were an appealing enigma to me. It seemed mysterious and exciting to learn the language spoken in a country that was home to many important historical figures who impacted the world politically, artistically, and in so many other ways. To me, Russia is a place with a rich story to tell and learning the language was the first step in understanding that story.”
Katherine plans to study abroad in Moscow during her time at Dickinson and is interested in pursuing translation. Congratulations, Katherine!
