Two U of A students and one alumna were selected to participate in the nationally competitive Critical Language Scholarship Program, an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Students Forrest Eagar and Nina Thomas, as well as alumna Khadeeja Asif, were among the approximately 500 students selected from universities across the United States out of more than 5,000 applicants. Through the program, the three spent part of the summer overseas for intensive language instruction and cultural immersion. Eagar studied Russian in Kyrgyzstan, and Thomas and Asif studied Arabic in Jordan.

"I am extremely excited to have received this scholarship," Thomas said. "I have had my eye on it for a few years and decided that I wanted to apply. It is understandably very competitive, and I feel honored to have been chosen to take part in this life-changing experience. I am excited to see how much I have improved and learned after returning to Arkansas."

Khadeeja Sweden

Nina Thomas

The program is part of a government effort to increase the number of Americans studying critical foreign languages. CLS scholars gain language and cultural skills that enable them to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.

CLS students live with host families and spend time with local students and community members as language partners. During their time abroad, students are required to speak only their language of study while in classes, at home with host families and on any CLS excursions, with the purpose of fully immersing students in the language.

For Eagar, the experience helped to prepare him for his career, which he plans to spend working in some Russian-speaking countries.

"As an architecture major, I am interested in the new innovation and construction in affordable and available housing that is being developed in countries of the former Soviet Bloc," he said. "I plan to be able to spend some time of my career in those countries. In addition to local languages like Kyrgyz or Kazakh or Ukrainian, Russian is a vital language to be able to communicate with a diverse group of over 258 million people that speak the Russian language across many countries."

Thomas — who is triple majoring in Spanish, international and global studies, and Spanish — became interested in the program after taking Arabic classes at the U of A. She saw the scholarship as an opportunity to "take the next step" to learn Arabic more deeply.

"My experience was extremely helpful for my progress and confidence in Arabic, but above all, I left with a newfound love and appreciation for Jordanian culture and Arab culture as a whole," she said. "Learning the language in the context of its culture made the process that much more meaningful, and just two months there has made me want to return again as soon as possible. The people are incredibly kind, curious and welcoming, and I made many friends, both local and from my program, who I will stay close with for a long time."

The CLS Program provides opportunities to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to spend eight to 10 weeks studying one of over a dozen critical languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish or Urdu. The program includes intensive language instruction and cultural enrichment experiences to promote rapid language gains.

For more information on the program, visit the CLS website. Students who are interested in applying for the Critical Language Scholarship are welcome to contact the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards at awards@uark.edu.