Congratulations to Elizabeth Chagalis, a freshman, who will be fully immersed in the Spanish language for two weeks this summer at Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, Minnesota. She worked to her fullest potential and was selected as one of 14 recipients in the United States to receive the 2019 National Spanish Exam Global Citizen Scholarship, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and the National Spanish Exam (NSE). Elizabeth will interact in Spanish with camp counselors and other campers as they swim, canoe, play sports, sing, dance, create arts and crafts, and sample recipes from Hispanic countries. 

 

Freshmen and sophomores who scored at the 75th percentile or higher on the 2018 NSE were eligible to apply for this national award which covers 100% of the tuition. Each school was allowed to select one applicant. While completing her application, Elizabeth wrote a composition explaining what it means to be a global citizen. She also recorded a video in which she had a conversation with her teacher about her family, hobbies, interests, and some of the things she would like to do if awarded the scholarship.

 

Concordia Language Villages has existed since 1961. Its summer programs combine traditional summer camp fun with complete immersion in one of 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. 

 

The Spanish Department applauds Elizabeth for approaching this endeavor with passion, conviction and persistence, and congratulates her on this noteworthy achievement. We are tremendously proud of Elizabeth and wish her the best in Minnesota.