Language Learning Travel Opportunities

I wish I had known about this when I was in high school.  Although I'm not sure that I knew how strong my interest in language learning was at that point.  My regrets aside, there's a scholarship funded by the State Department called the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) that sends students on overseas summer programs to learn languages the government deems important.  They pay for pretty much everything.  Here are the languages they offer:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Hindi
• Korean
• Persian
• Russian
• Turkish

Learning a language makes you stand out.  And it will help you get into college.  And it will help you get a job.  Besides all that, you would get to travel!  The scholarships are merit-based, which means you don't have to be poor to get it (some scholarships are need-based, and based on government criteria we don't qualify).  It never hurts to apply.  If any of you are interested in learning languages, I think you should apply.  Even if none of those languages sound particularly appealing right now, they could be.  If you'd asked me before my mission, I don't think I would've expressed interest in any of them, but now I would do just about all of them.  Here's the website: NSLI for Youth

Deadline for applications is October 30.