NSEP opens doors to different worlds

Author: Adam Swick '06

The experience of studying in another country is for most students a time of intense personal growth in addition to the academic benefits, and fortunately the majority of Midd-kids do study abroad. However, when planning to study overseas many students ask two questions, how will I pay for the experience and how can I use it in my future career?

When I was a sophomore planning my semester in China, I began looking for creative ways to finance my study abroad and fortunately came across the National Security Education Program (NSEP)'s David Boren Scholarship. The purpose of this program is fairly simple: to encourage more Americans to study the languages and cultures of countries that are less commonly taught in U.S. schools. The way that the program achieves this goal is to financially support American college students who study in these countries. NSEP defines the less commonly studied countries as anything outside of Western Europe or Australia and New Zealand and the majority of recipients study either in Asia, Africa or the Middle East. However, if, for example, a student was taking Spanish and planning to study in Latin America, the program would still apply to him or her. Acceptance of this award requires a one-year term of employment with the federal government after graduation.

My semester in China was easily the most memorable of my time in college. I attended the new Middlebury school in Hangzhou, a thriving city on the Eastern Seaboard. China is currently one of the most exciting places to live, with a booming economy and rapid development. Life there has a rawness and vibrancy that I have not encountered in either the United States or Europe. I was in Hangzhou at Zhejiang University of Technology (ZUT) during the inaugural semester of the Middlebury school. Despite some initial hiccups with the academic program it was a great semester and I made some lifelong friends such as my roommate, Fu Peijun, a junior at ZUT. A native of the city of Ningbo, he and his family were extremely welcoming to me and greatly helped my adjustment to China. We still stay in touch and I plan to see him the next time I go to China.

The Boren Scholarship helped to make my time in China possible and even better than it would otherwise have been. The award paid for a majority of tuition and living costs and thereby allowed me to use my personal funds to stay in China over J-Term to travel. In addition, the instruction and guidance that I received at an NSEP conference for scholarship recipients helped me to prepare for the cultural adjustments I would need to make once I got to China. Now that I am graduating in the spring and about to enter the workforce I am preparing to fulfill my service requirement. As a molecular biology major with an interest in infectious disease, I am looking at opportunities with the Department of State in the Office of Emerging Infectious Diseases. I hope to use my Chinese language skills and cultural experiences to mediate research cooperation and communication between scientists here in the United States. and those in Asia, especially on critical issues such as pandemic flu. In a world that is growing ever smaller it is especially important for professionals in both the public and private sectors to have a global perspective and the language skills to operate in other countries. For students planning to study abroad next year, I encourage you to apply for this year's NSEP Boren Scholarship, on-campus deadline: Jan. 20, 2006. For students who are only beginning to think about study abroad I urge you to try going some place, like China, that maybe you hadn't originally considered. More information about the NSEP program can be found at www.iie.org/nsep.