Each year the National Spanish Exam Junior Travel Study Abroad Scholarship provides 24 high school juniors in the United States the opportunity to travel to, and study, the language and the culture of a Spanish-speaking country. Winners in 2019 will study and travel in Spain June 21 through July 1. Each morning students will take 90-minute classes in Spanish at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, followed by an afternoon cultural excursion to reinforce the lesson. For example, they will study the Roman influence in Iberia and travel to Segovia to view the 2,000-year-old aqueduct.

 

Gerstell Academy junior Jana Dubinovsky’s outstanding performance on the National Spanish Exam during her freshman and sophomore years made her eligible to apply. Jana wrote a two-page essay in Spanish explaining how her experience in Spain would change her as a human being and impact her as a global citizen. She also made a five-minute video in which she spoke in Spanish about how the study abroad experience would influence her life and why the committee should select her given there would be many qualified applicants.