Bellaire HS World Language Academy
Elizabeth McClendon
emclendo@houstonisd.org

Bellaire HS began taking trips to Russia three times a year from '79--'89 (students, parents, community members) when Bellaire was one of top schools named by President R. Reagan for the first Presidential-Initiative Student Exchange. This Presidential Exchange lasted until 1999. Students from Bellaire World Languages Academy regularly win top awards nationally and internationally in the National Essay Comtest and State Olympiada spoken Russian and regularly sends students to Russia to represent the USA in international contests

Students at Bellaire have been availing themselves of the AP Prototype Exam since 2003. They started taking the IB SL and HL exams in 1980. The six levels of Russian yield Scholar Laureates each year and a vibrant Russian Club and active SLAVA and Junior SLAVA for beginning levels. Many former students use Russian now in medicine, law, business, NSA and World Bank, to name only a few!
The program was begun by Professor Lisa McLendon, who among many honors, has been Bellaire Teacher of Year, Texas FL Teacher of Year, a member of the Air to ground translation team for NASA Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, President, SLAVA (Slavic
National HS Honor Society), Lead teacher Rice University, a Fulbright Scholar and National Defense Education Act Scholar.

News Note from the Bellaire School Cardinal E-News April 22, 2016

Russian Students Win National Awards
Congratulations to over 90 Bellaire Russian students for being recognized for their performance on the National Test of Written Russian. Kathleen Connell and David Khachaturyan both have essays that have advanced to Moscow for a second round of international judging at the Pushkin Institute. We are Cardinal Proud of all of these students and Russian teacher Ms. Lisa McLendon.