Do you know an intrepid 15-18 year old who loves learning languages and experiencing other cultures? Encourage them to apply for NSLI-Y, a U.S. State Department-sponsored scholarship program for youth to study languages abroad. Scholarship recipients spend a summer or academic year abroad studying less commonly taught languages. Languages for the 2019-2020 programs include: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian (Tajiki), Russian, and Turkish.

Applications for 2019-2020 programs are now available. The application deadline is October 30, 2018 at 4 PM Eastern Time. Learn how to apply today!

Caden, a NSLI-Y alumnus who participated in the Korean Academic Year program (2017-2018), reflected on the benefits of his language immersion experience:

"I have become more confident in who I am as a person. I am more willing to try new things, and actively step out of my comfort zone to meet new people and create new experiences. I have created relationships and bonds that will hopefully last a lifetime."

Elaborating on the value of cross-cultural experiences, an alum from the Chinese Academic Year program (2017-2018) wrote:

"I think that this was an amazing experience to have before going to college. It really opened my eyes to another place in the world in a way which would have been impossible otherwise. I think the experience is extremely valuable and is certainly not something which I would easily forget. I think everyone can benefit from learning another language and seeing other cultures, and I believe experiences like this, which build a more global viewpoint, are extremely important especially to people in the US today who may not experience life in other countries as easily. I believe that cross cultural experiences will build the future as they have the present, and I believe a program like NSLI-Y provides a key experience and building block in that process."

We hope that you share this opportunity to apply for the 2019-2020 NSLI-Y scholarship programs with current U.S. high school students (and educators!) who are passionate about building a more interconnected world.

Learn more about the NSLI-Y program here.