2 Towson High School Students Win State Department Scholarships

From Baltimore County Public Schools: Helen Wang and Kayla Yup, both rising seniors in Towson High School’s Law and Public Policy Program, have earned National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) Virtual Summer Intensive scholarships to study the Korean language for five weeks.

NSLI-Y is a program of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) that promotes critical language learning among American youth. The 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program was created as an online alternative to the NSLI-Y overseas immersion program in response to the U.S. Department of State Global Level 4 Health Advisory and ECA's pause of in-person exchange programs.

Wang and Yup, competitively selected from approximately 3,000 applicants from across the United States, are two of approximately 500 students who will study Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Russian, or Turkish this summer as part of the virtual exchange. The NSLI-Y Virtual Summer Intensive program aims to provide robust language and cultural learning opportunities by virtually connecting the participants with teachers, international peers, cultural organizations, and communities where the target language is spoken.

“I pursued the opportunity to study Korean with the NSLI-Y program because I have always considered myself to be connected to the ideas of critical language acquisition and cultural understanding,” said Wang, a Lutherville resident. “I moved to America from China when I was two, so I spent a lot of my childhood first in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes, and then when my Chinese started to get rusty, in weekend Chinese classes. What also attracted me to NSLI-Y, though, was the opportunity to completely immerse myself in the language and culture of a host country… My participation in the Law and Public Policy magnet program as well as the Model UN club at school has also taught me a lot about becoming a global citizen, and deepened my desire to learn more about the world around me. I think the disciplines that I learn from NSLI-Y this summer will help me grow not only in an academic sense, but in a personal sense as well.”

“I pursued this opportunity,” said Yup, an Owings Mills resident, “because I wanted to develop my language acquisition skills, learn about another culture, and improve my Korean for use in our globalized society. I have been fortunate enough to immerse myself in Hispanic culture through Spanish Honor Society and AP Spanish classes. At Towson High, Mrs. Richmond has created a language learning environment that is both enriching and engaging. However, Korean is less common and more difficult to learn without a community of native speakers. NSLI-Y presents a unique opportunity to study critical languages and their corresponding cultures. Understanding another culture unlocks another perspective on life and the world. Studying International Law in my Law and Public Policy magnet program has led me to appreciate the need to understand other languages and cultures in order to promote beneficial global relations.”

Yup, who describes herself as an avid reader and poet, notes that Towson High’s award-winning literary magazine, Colophon, has a tradition to publish at least one work of literature in a different language. As next year’s managing editor, Yup hopes to contribute a piece written in a world language.

NSLI-Y is part of a multi-agency U.S. Government initiative launched in 2006 to improve Americans' ability to communicate in select critical languages, advance international dialogue, and provide Americans with jobs skills for the global economy. Many NSLI-Y alumni go on to pursue education and careers vital to U.S. national security and credit the program experience with helping them improve their academic, leadership, and cross-cultural communication skills.

NSLI-Y is administered by American Councils for International Education in cooperation with AFS-USA, American Cultural Exchange Service, AMIDEAST, iEARN-USA, the Russian American Foundation, Stony Brook University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Wisconsin.

Applications for 2021-22 NSLI-Y programs are expected to be available at in the late summer. The U.S. Department of State conducts study abroad programs for over 1,000 American high school students and approximately 3,000 foreign high school students each year.

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