Collier Citizen – Lance Shearer
“”They told us to bring a gift for our host family — but be sure it’s not something made in China,” said Nick Lamb. The concept illustrates some of the cultural currents the rising Naples High sophomore will navigate this summer, as a U.S. State Department scholar in Sichuan Province, China. Nick will have intensive Mandarin classes six hours a day, all while living with a local Chinese host family and speaking nothing but the local tongue. Nick’s merit-based scholarship, officially known as the National Strategic Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), is part of a U.S. government initiative that prepares outstanding American students to be leaders in a global world…The NSLI-Y program seeks to increase the number of Americans who can engage with native speakers of critical languages. The goals of the NSLI-Y program include sparking a life-long interest in foreign languages and cultures, and developing a corps of young Americans with the skills necessary to advance international dialogue and cross-cultural opportunities in the private, academic and government sectors.”(more)