Elizabeth Syrkin was a student in three countries … all before her 12th birthday.

Syrkin, the 2nd runner-up in University Language Services’ 2009 scholarship essay contest, attended schools in Russia, France and Germany before arriving in the US in 2000.

“I grew into myself, and learned to be comfortable with myself here, in America,” Syrkin wrote in her winning essay. “I have a sense of cultural pride in my past, yes, but I have also learned so much from the wide array of international, diverse, incredibly interesting people here.”

Her childhood was spent around the world, but the United States has become her home, she said.

Syrkin is now a sophomore at the University of Virginia, where she is an English language and literature major and French minor. She hopes to one day be an English professor and is looking forward to studying English literature at Oxford next fall.

Syrkin says international students should “drop any preconceptions” about US schools.

“Just be open to the experience,” she advises. “Let it teach you something.”

In addition, students should take advantage of the American educational system’s wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities, she said. She has found a wider range of such opportunities in America than in the others countries where she studied.

The American system may be different, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best.

“I cannot say what country is ‘better,’ or if the American system is the best,” she said. “They are just different, but all very fulfilling in themselves.”

Syrkin says it was difficult to move from one city to the next, but “it was also an incredible adventure.”

“I would not be who I am without living all over the world, without exploring different cultures, customs, and ways of living,” she explained. “I am a better person for it.”