Finding voice in a new language

Fun, engaging, spirited, joyful, happy, goofy, extremely intelligent, and hardworking are the ways Annetta Elementary school teacher Adeana Chasteen describes fourth-grade student Vlad Starosvietova. 

Vlad and his family migrated from Ukraine to the United States in July of 2023. Alina Starosvietova, his mother, said their family moved because of the Russia-Ukraine war. She said, “We chose the U.S. because it offered a chance to build a new life.” In class, Vlad shared how he loves the U.S. and is so grateful to be here because his family feels safe, Chasteen said.

Vlad is fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, and began learning English as his third language in first grade, a year before his move to the U.S. He said that when learning, hearing others speak and using Duolingo is helpful to him. 

Vlad is a bright student with many friends. “He’s just larger than life,” said Chasteen, and being a multilingual student, he excels because “he just tackles [his studies] ...there’s never a handicap for him whatsoever…there’s never an excuse to not do his best.”  

This resilience was displayed in the annual Annetta Elementary spelling bee. Every student tries out by taking a spelling test and from there, two students are chosen from each class. Out of Ms. Chasteen’s class, Vlad was one of two. “It was a hundred percent merit. It was earned,” said Chasteen. 

The morning of Dec. 3, 2025, Vlad made his way to the cafeteria to compete in the spelling bee. The students walk through the stage, are given a word, have a chance to spell it, and then continue to the next round if spelled correctly. Vlad participated in three out of 11 rounds. 

“It’s not necessarily that he won the whole thing; it was just more the fact that he had the confidence,” said Chasteen. “Just his joy while he was up there that day. It was just so awesome.”  Vlad said “seeing a lot of people and a lot of friends” was the thing he remembered most about the day of the spelling bee. 

The confidence to compete for a spelling bee in his third language inspired those around him. Vlad’s classmate, fellow participant, and spelling bee runner-up, Gatlynn Mills, shared how he was proud of Vlad’s accomplishment and being able to compete in the spelling bee as a nonnative speaker, Chasteen said. 

“I feel like we all have things that are not easy for us, and there are challenges, and there’s roadblocks and different things,” said Chasteen. “If Vlad, in his third language, can compete in a spelling bee…what can we do?”