Mac Williams is a senior Professional Writing major with a minor in Creative Writing from Rineyville, KY. Last Spring, Williams received the Critical Language Scholarship which he had hoped to use to study Japanese language abroad.

The Critical Language Scholarship is a US Department of State funded study abroad program. This program gives American graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to study and master critical languages in an intensive Summer study abroad experience. The Summer 2020 program was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in Spring 2020, and Williams was unable to travel abroad.

Williams studied abroad in Japan for two non-consecutive semesters in Fall 2017 and Spring 2019. In Summer 2020, he had planned to travel to Okayama University and continue his intensive study of Japanese in Okayama, Japan.

Williams notes that the work he has done as an English major helped him in the application process for this competitive scholarship. From his time in the professional writing concentration, Williams has learned how to use language and rhetoric to market his skillset in a professional manner.

“Learning how to present yourself through writing and how to say things in writing to make it sound like you are a professional, definitely helps in any sort of application, especially this one.”

Williams chose to study English after his 2017 study abroad experience in Japan when he decided to be a translator. He felt that professional writing would be the best fit for his long-term goals, but he also likes the technicality of professional writing and the idea of “studying English almost as a science.”

Although his plans to study abroad were cancelled for this year, Williams plans to apply to the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program as an Assistant Language Teacher and hopes to go back to Japan long-term to attend Graduate school abroad.