- This article was originally published in the Bradley Herald the hub for FLEX alumni and their stories. Emin, a young performer and FLEX alumni from Azerbaijan, has spent years touring with musical greats and recording his own music. But now, Emin is rehearsing for perhaps his biggest performance to date: preparing to study musical theater at the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles this year on a full scholarship. Currently, Emin studies voice in Baku, Azerbaijan… Read More
- Editor's note: In 1996, Thomas Burns decided to take his study of the Russian language to the next level by spending a semester in St. Petersburg and what is now the Russian Language and Area Studies Program. Since then, he's lived and worked in several other countries while building his career as a visual storyteller. Today, he is based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Why did you decide to study abroad in Russia?I had been studying Russian at college in the US, but I just wasn’t happy with… Read More
- Editor's note: Egzon Halili is one of the newest fellows to complete a degree through the Kosovo American Education Fund (KAEF), but when he returned to Kosovo after graduation last year, he hit the ground running. He launched a company, Monego, that is already operating in cities around Kosovo. Now a CEO, he hopes to continue supporting young entrepreneurs, the same way he was supported through KAEF. This month, KAEF is celebrating awarding its 100th scholarship. You… Read More
- By Ma Jianhong, Teacher of Critical Languages Program 2016-17, on his experience as an exchange teacher at Izard County Consolidated Elementary School in Arkansas. When I learned from the award letter it was mandatory for a TCLP exchange teacher to complete 8-10 hours of outreach each month, my exhilaration of exploring a new country suddenly dissipated, followed by my worry about how I could accomplish such a mission. It had been looming large on my mind ever after. A lot of questions… Read More
- Learning Swahili brought Rebecca Gailey to Tanzania the first time. A dream has kept her coming back.“Ota,” the Swahili word for dream, inspired the name of the educational program she helped start in 2013, while she was still finishing her undergraduate studies.That year, more than half of the country’s tenth graders failed their required standardized tests. For most of these students, failing the test meant an end to their educational opportunities. The lack of resources and huge class sizes… Read More
- Two alumni from the Florida Atlantic University College of Business (FAU) discovered a way to prevent students from finding test answers online during exams. Elena Soboleva was pursuing her MBA at FAU on an international student visa when she noticed a large number of American students receiving high marks without studying; she discovered that many of these students find their test answers online. A local news station in Orlando, Florida had also investigated cheating methods at a local station… Read More
- When Jelena Jevtic first heard about the UN Youth Assembly, she wasn't sure if she should apply.But she did. She will be one of more than 1,000 students from around the world involved in the prestigious gathering next month in New York City.Born in Serbia, Jelena is a senior at Bluefield State College in West Virginia, where as the student government association president she has spearheaded the celebration of UN Day, International Women's Day, as well as the first-ever recycling initiatives on… Read More
- Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) alumna Li Qiong was placed as a Mandarin teacher in Arizona in 2011. Since her return to China after her teacher exchange, she has facilitated a sister school program between her US and home school with two follow-up TCLP alumni grants focused on innovative international exchange. Li Qiong's 2015 project, Sister Schools Rising, shared Chinese language and culture and cemented the schools' partnership. In 2016, the China Education Association for… Read More
- In the suburbs of Almaty, Irina Abasova found her niche. Or rather, she molded it. She started off in the banking industry, but after becoming a mother and with some encouragement from friends, she realized she wanted to be her own boss. So she started her own 3D printing with one used printer. Eventually, she shifted her focus to plastic molds and today she leads a staff of 15 at Creat3D. Last month, she won a government grant through a program that promotes innovative ideas that will… Read More
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