Fluent in Russian—and Adventure

Benjamin Popple BA ’26 was sitting in a music theory class when his phone buzzed in his pocket. His professor had a strict no-phone policy, but he couldn’t resist looking at the email he had just received. In that moment, he discovered he had been awarded the Critical Language Scholarship to study Russian in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

“I was honestly shaking from excitement,” Popple says.

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a highly competitive, fully funded initiative of the U.S. Department of State, supposed by American Councils for International Education, that sends undergraduate and graduate students abroad for intensive language study. Since 2006, the program has supported more than 10,000 students from across the country. Only a handful from Lewis & Clark have earned the distinction in the past decade.

Maria Hristova, associate professor of Russian and Russian section head
Credit: Steve Hambuchen“The CLS awards have become progressively more difficult to secure due to funding cuts. The fact that Ben qualified is a testament to his hard work, proactive approach, and perseverance,” says Maria Hristova, associate professor of Russian, Russian section head, and Popple’s faculty advisor.

Focused on languages critical to U.S. national security and global engagement, the CLS program compresses the equivalent of a full academic year of language learning into eight weeks through immersive cultural experiences.

“Once you leave the classroom here, it’s hard to stay immersed in the language,” Popple says. “That’s what makes going abroad so valuable.”

For Popple, the award is more than just an academic achievement; it’s also an opportunity to pursue something he has been working toward for years.

“This is a moment for me to spend two months engaging in a passion of mine, purely because I want to,” he says.

As a history major and Russian minor, Popple’s interest in the region dates back to his childhood, when his zeal for the Soviet Union first took hold.

“My interest with Russia and history have always been intertwined,” he says. “When I was 12, I had this fascination with the Soviet Union as this really important thing that just disappeared around 30 years ago.”

What began as a curiosity about history soon expanded into an interest in language, culture, and post-Soviet life, eventually leading Popple beyond the classroom. After graduating from high school, he participated in the State Department’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth, spending an academic year studying Russian in the Eastern European country of Moldova. At 17, it was his first time living abroad independently.

“For most students, their college story begins with their parents crying as they drop them off. But before college, I left home at 17 and flew to Eastern Europe with a bunch of kids I didn’t know from across the country,” he says.

That experience sparked a desire to return to a Russian-speaking environment, but this time in a very different context.

“Kyrgyzstan is such a vastly different country than what I have experienced. It’s predominantly Muslim, and the geography there is very different. That excites me,” he says. “I grew up in a Southern Protestant environment that was very homogenous. This will be the first time I’m on the outside of that.”

Participants in the program take a language pledge, agreeing to speak only Russian for much of their time abroad, even outside the classroom.

“When I went to Moldova in high school, I didn’t know a single word of Russian,” he says. “You are stuck being an observer. Once you’re more familiar with the language, everything becomes more accessible.”

Popple credits much of his preparation to his time at Lewis & Clark and the close-knit environment of its language and history programs.

“I feel like I was pretty shy and awkward at the beginning of my freshman year, but the small class sizes here have really helped me socialize more,” he says. “There are also some really brilliant people teaching history classes here.”

Faculty mentorship also greatly prepared Popple for the program. Hristova, who is the faculty advisor for CLS applicants, said his dedication to the language and region set him apart.

“Ben has been my teaching assistant for two years now, and I regard him more as a junior colleague than a student,” she says. “I’ve seen him develop intellectually, really digging into history and literature topics he finds interesting, as well as grow as a person.”

Now, Popple’s interests will take him halfway across the world once again, but this time with a deeper understanding of the language and a renewed eagerness to experience it beyond the classroom.

“There are things that might be unique to the people there that I don’t even know about right now,” he says. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Popple will depart for Kyrgyzstan in June, where he will spend eight weeks immersed in Russian language study, returning in August.

Russian History