Spears School's Ashley Leonard represents OSU on trip to Russia
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Leonard was one of 14 SGA presidents from across the United States chosen for a week-long
trip to Russia in November for the Kremlin Fellows Program, where she met and collaborated
with American and Russian students as well as Russian business and political leaders.
“We met with students, as well as Russian political and business leaders, to talk
about things that we thought we had in common that we could collaborate on,” said
Leonard, who joined SGA presidents from schools such as Duke, Harvard, MIT, Indiana,
Georgetown, Michigan State, Columbia, West Virginia, Stanford and Cal-Berkeley in
making the trip to Moscow.
“One of the things that they were really interested in is OSU’s petroleum engineering
program, as well as agriculture. Those are the two things that we’ll probably collaborate
on in the future,” Leonard said.
Leonard explained that the conference will have a lasting effect on students at Oklahoma
State, specifically those looking to study abroad.
“One of their proposals that will probably mean a lot to OSU is the Skolkovo Project,
which is a new institution that they’re building right outside of Moscow,” she said.
“They want American students to go over there to study. We met with their executive
director and they gave us this big pitch on the Skolkovo Project and how each of our
universities can contribute to that in the next year or two. So I’ll start meeting
with administrators on our campus to set up an exchange program and put them in touch
with the executive director over there in hopes of collaborating in the future.”
The senior from Artesia, N.M., is graduating next May, so she plans to pass the torch
to OSU’s next SGA president.
“I’ll have to pass a lot of the OSU stuff along to people who will be on campus for
another couple of years,” Leonard said. “The Kremlin Fellows program is going to continue
happening every year, so I’ll make sure next year that I pass the application along
to whoever the SGA president is at that time.
“I’d be more than happy to help them through the application process so they can
go over there and have the experience I did just because it was really eye-opening.
I didn’t really know a lot about Russia or issues that we had in common that we could
collaborate on until I got over there, but once I was there I saw a big need and a
big opportunity for us to be more existing in Russia and collaborate with them on
several different things.”
During her stay, Leonard had the opportunity to visit iconic landmarks such as the
Kremlin. However, the most rewarding part of her experience was the opportunity to
meet with the other student body presidents from across the United States, she said.
“I got really close to the other student body presidents who went on the trip,” she
said. “Even though we all come from really different backgrounds and really different
universities, I think we found that we have a lot in common and we’re all struggling
and battling some of the same issues. I definitely see us collaborating in the future.
We all built really good relationships and set up a really strong network for us that
are here in the United States. I’ll definitely stay in touch with the people that
I met over there for years to come.”
Overall, Leonard said the trip was rewarding, eye-opening and an overall great experience.
She offered a piece of advice for next year’s SGA president, should he or she be selected
to make the trip to Moscow next November.
“The biggest thing I would suggest is to do your research,” Leonard said. “Learn
absolutely as much as possible about Russia before you go, because that will really
help you out as far as the meetings go and it’ll help you be prepared.”
Cutline: Oklahoma State University senior Ashley Leonard, center wearing the orange
scarf, met with John Beyrle, Ambassador of the United States to Russia, during her
visit as part of the Kremlin Fellows Program. (Photo provided)