Isra Eldosougi and Cristina Valerio.
PARAMUS, N.J. – Two Bergen Community College students have received a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study “need languages” as part of multi-week language institutes in Jordan and Japan. Fewer than 10 percent of applicants earn entry into the federally sponsored program, according to the most recent data from the Department of State.
Isra Eldosougi, of East Rutherford, and Cristina Valerio, of North Bergen, will study Arabic and Japanese, respectively. They represent the first Bergen students ever selected for a CLS.
Dean of Arts and Humanities Amparo Codding, who also serves as the College’s study abroad program coordinator, said the pair learned about the CLS Program during a fall information session at the institution’s main campus.
“I am extremely excited,” Codding said. “According to the CLS Program officer for recruitment and selection, 10 applications were submitted from Bergen students. This is a fantastic number – especially when considering we have two recipients.”
Eldosougi, a biology major who plans to enroll in medical school, hopes to one day establish a nonprofit organization in her native Sudan to help the country’s women and children. Frustrated by a language gap she encountered during a previous humanitarian visit, Eldosougi seeks to provide women and children with a barrier-free advocate.
“This will reduce the distance level,” she said.
After attempting to learn Japanese by herself at 11 years old, Valerio has studied the language since enrolling at Bergen two years ago. Since then, she became a world languages major – and trilingual (Japanese, English, Spanish). With aspirations of moving to Japan to become an English teacher, Valerio said she looks forward to the language institute.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.
The approximately 550 undergraduate and graduate students selected for the CLS reside in 49 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and attend 279 institutions of higher education.
The CLS Program represents the federal government’s effort to expand the number of American students studying and mastering critical foreign languages – Hindi, Korean and Turkish among them. The U.S. Department of Education reports only 18 percent of Americans speak a language other than English.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 16,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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