MS SC555

Commends Sydney Matrisciano, a 17-year-old student at Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, for winning the 2017 "Young Orator Prize" at the International Olympiada of Spoken Russian in Moscow.

Matrisciano won among 12 Young Orator prize recipients selected from 150 international competitors, delivering a three-minute speech in Russian about her study abroad experience and reciting a poem by Alexander Pushkin.

She previously won a Gold Medal at the regional Olympiada Competition at Rhodes College in Memphis in April 2017 and was one of six American students selected for the international competition.

Matrisciano received a full four-year QuestBridge Scholarship to Northwestern University, where she plans to major in Russian studies and political science with aspirations of a career in the U.S. Foreign Service.

Resolution directs the legislature to present the commendation to Matrisciano and her parents, forward it to the Mississippi School for Math and Science Superintendent, and provide copies to the Capitol Press Corps.