Cedar Grove Student Studies Ballet In Russia Over Summer Vacation

CEDAR GROVE, NJ — Diana Mastellone, a high school senior who lives in Cedar Grove, may have your “what I did this summer” story beat.

Mastellone, a senior at Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township, recently spent six weeks studying Russian language, culture and ballet at the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow.

Mastellone, who has been studying ballet for 15 years, was awarded a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship for 2018-19 by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the organization stated.

According to the NSLI-Y, Mastellone was competitively selected from more than 3,300 applications across across the United States, and was one of 670 students who got a hands-on experience immersing themselves in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Indonesian and Russian culture.

The NSLI-Y wrote:

“While in Russia, Diana received formal language instruction, lived with a host family, and experienced the local culture as part of an immersion environment. The NSLI-Y program is part of a multi-agency U.S. government initiative launched in 2006 to improve Americans' ability to communicate in select critical languages to advance international dialogue and increase American economic global competitiveness.”

NSLI-Y administrators provided the following biography information for Mastellone:

“Diana Mastellone,17, of Cedar Grove, is currently a senior at Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township, where she is in their STEM program and maintains a top grade point average. Diana has studied classical ballet for 15 Years, formerly with the New Jersey Ballet, and most recently with Valentina Kozlova Dance Conservatory, New York City.”

The goals of the NSLI-Y program include: promoting critical language learning among American youth; enhancing cross-cultural understanding and deepening trust; sparking a lifetime of interest in foreign language and culture; and developing the skills to advance international dialogue, compete effectively in the global marketplace, promote mutual understanding, and contribute to a more peaceful world.

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, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of Wisconsin. Applications for 2019-20 NSLI-Y programs are expected to be available at www.nsliforyouth.org in the late summer.

For more information about U.S. Department of Sate exchange programs for American high school students, visit https://exchanges.state.gov/highschool.

• See related article: West Orange Student To Study Arabic In Jordan, Live With Locals

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