By Caleb Youngblood, Public Relations Coordinator
June 23, 2026
The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is proud to announce that recent graduate Kagan LaBauve (Class of 2026) has been awarded a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship to study Russian in Latvia this summer.
LaBauve, a native of Poplarville, will spend six weeks in the Baltic nation from June 26 to August 10 as part of the highly competitive program funded by the U.S. Department of State. The scholarship includes a homestay experience, intensive language instruction, and excursions to places of cultural or historical interest.
LaBauve is one of a select group of students from across the United States chosen for the program, which encourages the study of languages considered critical to U.S. economic and national security interests. Since its launch in 2006, NSLI-Y has provided opportunities for American students to study languages such as Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian abroad.
“Russian is daunting, but Kagan tackled this challenging language with gusto, steadily growing in proficiency and always searching for additional opportunities to learn,” said Russian teacher Margaret Mary Henry, noting that LaBauve’s scholarship to Latvia brings to 14 the number of NSLI-Y scholarship winners from MSMS. Winners of the NSLI-Y scholarship previously studied in Moscow and Moldova, but, due to the war in Ukraine, the sites shifted to Central Asia and the Baltics. MSMS is the only K-12 school in Mississippi that offers Russian language instruction, providing students with a unique opportunity to study one of the world’s most challenging and strategically important languages.
For LaBauve, choosing Russian initially began as a way to fulfill a graduation requirement, but it quickly became much more.
“Oh, man… the alphabet was definitely the biggest shock to me,” he said. “It’s easy to recognize the letters and their respective sounds now, but this was not the case during the first two months of learning. Besides, just looking at some of the characters inside the Russian alphabet made me second-guess if I made the right call with my language.”
LaBauve’s willingness to embrace new challenges was also evident in his decision to leave his hometown and attend MSMS.
“Going into my sophomore year, my plans were to stick with football all the way,” he said. “I was a decent student, but I hadn’t given any thought to a future in academics.”
That changed after a conversation with Kyler Boothe, a friend who was considering applying to MSMS.
“He explained to me how he was thinking about giving football up for this boarding school up in north Mississippi,” said LaBauve. “I remember initially thinking how crazy that was because he had a legit chance in having a fruitful career in football as a kicker – though, after literally 10 minutes of thinking later, I told him that I was going to apply as well.”
LaBauve maintained a 4.0 both years at MSMS, a public high school for gifted juniors and seniors from around the state. He will be attending Mississippi State University in the fall and has received the Bagley College of Engineering Academic Excellence Scholarship, along with other scholarships.
LaBauve’s award is part of a banner year for the MSMS Russian program. Students recently earned 12 gold medals and four silver medals at the 2026 Olympiada of Spoken Russian, a national competition sponsored by the American Council of Teachers of Russian.
The Olympiada is unique among world language competitions because students are evaluated against proficiency standards rather than competing directly against one another. Participants demonstrate their ability to communicate in Russian in everyday situations while also showcasing their knowledge of Russian culture and history.
LaBauve was the top-scoring gold medalist in the competition.
Other gold medalists in Russian II were Enoch Clardy, Sophia Dean, Rue Lin, Noah Maksi, and Nicolas Palagi. Silver medalists in Russian II were Isabella Garcia, Kale Hemmer, Rebecca Sun, and John Paul Willhoite.
All students enrolled in Russian I earned gold medals: Caspian Coughlin, Samantha Diamond, Gabriel Ellingburg, Aaden Khaek-On, Callista Palagi, and Alina Putnam.
MSMS congratulates Kagan and all of the Russian students on their outstanding achievements.
For more about the NSLI-Y, please visit: https://www.nsliforyouth.org/languages/russian/