Sacred Heart Academy senior April Dong is studying Mandarin in Chengdu, China, from July 1 to Aug. 12 through a National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship.
The scholarship was created to improve “Americans’ ability to communicate in select critical languages, to advance international dialogue and increase American economic global competitiveness,” according to a press release from the initiative.
Dong was selected from 3,300 applicants. She is one of 660 students selected to study Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Russian or Turkish.
She will “receive formal language instructions, live with a host family and experience the local culture,” the press release said.
