CAPE GIRARDEAU - John and Connie Shanks of Bloomfield have announced the engagement of their "Russian granddaughter," Victoria Alexandrovna Vygodskaia, to Jon Kurka Rust, both of Cape Girardeau.
The future bride is the daughter of Valentina Vygodskaia and Alexander Vygodski of Minsk, Belarus. She expects to receive degrees at the end of the year in German language and international business from Southeast Missouri State University, where she was recognized as the Outstanding International Business Student in 2002. She studied at the Minsk State Linguistics University in Minsk; and in The Netherlands and Germany on exchange programs.
Her fiance is the son of Gary and Wendy Rust of Cape Girardeau. He holds a masters in business administration degree from Harvard University's School of Business, where he graduated with distinction in 1999. He was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in English and Russian. Rust attended the Pushkin Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, Russia, and the University of Pittsburgh Slavic Institute. He is co-president of Rust Communications, a newspaper and information media company based in Cape Girardeau.
The couple will exchange wedding vows Aug. 9 at the St. Jan kerk in Maastricht, The Netherlands.