Student selected to participate in prestigious Critical Language Scholarship Program in South Korea this summer

MURRAY, Ky. – Murray State University junior Paige Weising has been selected as one of about 500 students nationwide to participate in the 2024 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program this summer.

Weising, an honors student from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, will study Korean at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, for eight to 10 weeks in an intensive language program.

Finalists were selected from a diverse pool of more than 5,000 applicants from U.S. colleges and universities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The CLS Program is designed to promote rapid language gains and essential intercultural fluency in regions that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity. Participants may choose to study Azerbaijani, Hindi, Indonesian, Persian, Portuguese, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian or Japanese.

Formal classroom language instruction is provided for a minimum of 15 hours per week. Extracurricular activities are designed to supplement the formal curriculum, including regular one-on-one meetings with native speaker language partners for conversational practice, as well as cultural activities and excursions designed to expand students’ understanding of the history, politics, culture and daily life of their host country.

Weising is an international studies major with a minor in East Asian studies. She has studied in Gwangju before and said she absolutely loves the culture and community there.

“The goal of the program is to cover an entire academic year’s worth of Korean language in just the eight week program,” Weising said. “I’m excited for the classes and the other opportunities as part of CLS, like speaking with a language partner every week and going on cultural excursions.”

At the conclusion of the CLS program, Weising plans to stay at Chonnam National University as an exchange student for the fall semester so that she can build connections and apply what she learned over the summer.

“I chose to apply for the CLS program because my dream is to attend a Korean university for graduate school and go into a career related to intercultural connection,” she said. “CLS will really help me to build up my language skills and get more experience with Korean culture.”

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government. It is supported in its implementation by American Councils for International Education.

Murray State students interested in applying for the CLS Program may contact Hannah Durbin at hdurbin@murraystate.edu or Dominique Suiter at dsuiter1@murraystate.edu.