Celeste Marshall is YSU’s recipient of the State Department Critical Language Scholarship and will study abroad this summer in this prestigious, fully funded program in Amman, Jordan.
Having already completed a semester in Paris last autumn and a spring semester at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey to study Turkish as part of her desire to study Middle Eastern cultures, Celeste will once again leave the Mahoning Valley for warmer climes.
Marshall is one of approximately 550 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s CLS Program. CLS participants will spend seven to ten weeks in intensive language institutes this summer in one of 13 countries to study Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, or Urdu. Marshall will be focusing on Arabic.
The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. It provides fully-funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences. CLS Program participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.
Selected finalists for the 2014 CLS Program hail from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and represent more than 200 institutions of higher education from across the United States, including public and private universities, liberal arts colleges, minority-serving institutions and community colleges.
The CLS Program is administered by American Councils for International Education and The Ohio State University / Ohio University.
Her fall internship in Paris entailed working in the U.S. Embassy as a U.S. Department of State Student Intern.
Celeste Marshall
The State Department program offers U.S. citizen students the opportunity to participate in unpaid internships through an intensive educational and experiential learning experience that provides professional experience and personal growth and development within a foreign affairs environment. Celeste came away with hands-on experience and insight into the substance and daily operations of U.S. foreign policy.
Although the State Department requires upperclassman status, through college classes in high school, CLEP tests, and her first year at YSU Celeste qualified. The Cortland, Ohio resident also helped her chances by participating in activities at YSU’s English Language Institute. It also didn’t hurt that she speaks French and Arabic. The Internship will be in the economic sector, but her precise job duties and housing have yet to be worked out. “I feel my experience will help me learn beyond the textbook with my immersion into French culture,” says Celeste.
A University Scholar pursuing Political Science and Pre-Law degrees, Celeste is a scholar through and through, staying busy with studying, volunteer work, community service, meeting and talking with the international students, studying new languages and cultures, reading, and dance.