Lancaster Mennonite School senior Olya Hershey values family and friends above all else.

Olya, 17, knows what it's like to lose family. Born in Podolsk, two hours south of Moscow, she was 7 when her mother died.

After two weeks with her maternal grandmother, who did not have the resources to care for her, she was placed in an orphanage.

Later, she learned that her father had died, and she believes her infant brother died also, as no trace of him can be found.

Nate and Linda Hershey, of Smoketown, adopted Olya in 2004. She has a sister, Juliana, 21, a senior at Messiah College, and a brother, Mitch, 24, a 2009 Penn State graduate.

"I have a wonderful family here," she says. "I never regretted the opportunity to be adopted. I have opportunities I may never have had in Russia."

Olya wants to stay close to home, perhaps attending Millersville University to study elementary and special education and teaching in a local school. Her birth mother, who was 32 when she died, was an elementary schoolteacher.

"I've always had a passion to work with kids," she says.

Baby-sitting a 7-year-old boy with autism sparked her interest in special education.

However, she plans to put off college for a year for an extended trip to Russia to visit a paternal aunt and her grandmother, with whom she has stayed in touch, and learn more about her native country.

She planned to go with her family last summer, but a last-minute passport snafu derailed her plans. Her mother went alone, bringing home news and photos of her 75-year-old grandmother.

"She's a very spunky little lady," she says.

In June, Olya is scheduled to tour South Africa for 2 1/2 weeks with the LMS Campus Chorale, performing in schools and churches. The singers will stay with local families and "experience their culture," she says. She joined the chorale, by audition, in 11th grade.

When she came here, she should have been in fourth grade, but she was held back a year at Locust Grove Elementary to learn English. Then she skipped fifth grade.

She credits Kris Wachters, who tutored her at Locust Grove; her third-grade teacher, Jessica Newswanger; and Krista Hubbard, a Locust Grove second-grade teacher, who tutored her after school her first year here, with helping her master English so quickly.

"It was tough, but she had games. She made it easier," she said of Wachters.

Newswanger was a big influence on her life.

"She took the time to take me aside to explain things more," she says.

This school year, she is tutoring students in Newswanger's class, four days a week, two periods each day. She took on the assignment "to make sure I want to go into elementary education," and it has confirmed her decision.

"The kids are fun and energetic. Seeing them succeed is inspirational."

At LMS, Olya was inducted into the National Honor Society in 10th grade. She has a 3.8 grade-point average and took honors chemistry last year and Advanced Placement world history the year before.

Last year, she received the Alumni Association Certificate of Merit "for showing exemplary conduct, loyalty to LMHS, loyalty to Anabaptist principles, scholastic ability, and evidence of daily Christian conduct." She also was a Rotary Club Student of the Month last year.

She is a member of the Peers Assistant Leadership Club, a group of juniors and seniors who meet once a week in small groups with junior high students to prepare them for high school.

"We find out how their day is going and let them know someone cares about them, that they can come to us for help."

Olya worships with her family at Calvary Church. At school, she is a member of the Bible Studies Club, helping to prepare for the school's Wednesday morning chapel.

Last year, Olya worked at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant as a waitress and hostess. She hopes to land a new job soon at Stoltzfus Meats and Deli in Intercourse.

Between her trip to Russia and college, she hopes to work with children.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family at her grandparents' cabin in Potter County in the winter and at Ocean City, Md., in the summer.