Even though the academic year is behind us, we know our students don’t use the summer months to wind down. In most cases, they use this time to advance their studies, especially three Spiders who are heading overseas with U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships.

Harleen Bal, ’18, double-majored in environmental studies and healthcare studies and is heading to Chandigarh, India, to study Punjabi. Rising senior Christopher Rein is majoring in Arabic with a minor in linguistics and will study Arabic in Ibri, Oman, this summer, as well as explore various archaeological and cultural sites. Rising junior Bryan Carapucci is going to Dalian, China, to study Mandarin before he studies abroad in Taiwan this fall.

To date, 13 UR students have received scholarships to this intensive immersion program. “Language is such a crucial part of cross-cultural understanding, and once you can begin to cross a language barrier, understanding culture, history and simply communicating in a deeper manner becomes much more attainable,” Bal said.

We are overwhelmed with pride for these three who are immersing themselves in other countries to sharpen their expertise!