This summer, nine CRLS students travelled to Thailand, Peru, Morocco, France, Italy, Spain, Chile, and the Dominican Republic, all through CIEE, the Council on International Educational Exchange.

CIEE is a nonprofit organization that promotes international education. This summer was CRLS’ second year collaborating with the organization to grant students need and merit-based scholarships to its summer programs abroad. They offer programs focused on culture and language, service and leadership, and global discovery.

Language and culture trips include studying Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, all taught in countries that speak each respective language. Service and leadership trips include Empowering Girls Through Sports in Iringa, Tanzania, Mentoring Youth and Raising Social Awareness in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and Environmental Justice Through Youth Education in Khon Kaen, Thailand. As for Global Discovery trips, Australian Wildlife Conservation in Perth, Theater Arts Behind the Scenes in London, K-Pop Immersion in Seoul, and Queer Life and Activism in Amsterdam are offered, among many more, according to CIEE’s website.

Ten to 100 percent of the program costs can be covered by CIEE. This past summer, 33,000 dollars given were granted in total for the nine students who participated. “The scholarships make the difference,” said Mr. McGuinness. “The whole point is to open it up to more of our students.”

Leo Austin-Spooner ’21, who completed the Arabic Language and Culture program in Rabat, Morrocco, said that the trip helped with his language learning. “I gained the ability to confidently speak to people in Arabic because I had to,” he explained. “There were lots of instances where I just had to speak the Arabic I knew.” Now, he feels confident going into Arabic II. “It was a really great trip,” he said.

Senior Mayila Deus travelled to Paris for a month this summer for the French Language and Culture program. “It was amazing,” she said. “Honestly I couldn’t ask for a better experience; everything was great from the family to the classes and just being in Paris.”

For Deus, the language immersion provided by living with her host family helped her the most in improving her French. “One of the best ways to advance your language study is by living abroad and using the language in the country where it’s spoken,” explained Dr. Kelleher, CPS’s Coordinator of World Language, who oversees the administrative work of partnering with CIEE. He continued, saying “[it’s] just an incredible opportunity to advance language skills, cultural awareness, and it just helps students to be ready to go out to the real world and have all kinds of different career experiences.”