(Clockwise from top left: Olivia Blackmon, Noah Lyles, Reece Gillespie, and Langley Williams)

Olivia Blackmon, Noah Lyles, and Langley Williams have been awarded $25,000 David L. Boren Scholarships to fund intensive language study in Taiwan during the 2023-2024 academic year. Reece Gillespie has been named an alternate in the competition. All are students in the Chinese Flagship Program at WKU. 

The Boren Scholarship will fund the recipients’ Capstone Year, the culminating experience of WKU’s intensive Chinese Flagship Program (CFP). The CFP is intended to advance students to a level of fluency required to operate in a professional environment--often from zero experience at the beginning of their undergraduate career. In the Capstone Year, Flagship students spend the first semester enrolled directly in courses at a host university and the second semester in a professional internship related to their academic and career goals. 

Olivia Blackmon is the daughter of Donna and Chris Blackmon of Nashville, Tennessee studying International Affairs, Chinese, and Asian Religions & Cultures. Olivia has been a “frequent flyer” in the Office of Scholar Development, applying for many opportunities to advance her language proficiency and clarify her career goals over the past four years. In 2022, she earned a US Department of State Critical Language Scholarship that fully funded 8 weeks of virtual intensive language study hosted by Changchun Humanities and Science College in Changchun, China.  

“A fruitful three years of relationships with OSD staff really helped me clarify and articulate my vision. I cannot thank them enough for their academic and personal support!” says Olivia. After Capstone, Olivia plans to pursue a career in the US Department of State, either in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs or the Foreign Service. 

Noah Lyles is a Political Science, Chinese, and Asian Religions & Cultures major from Frankfort. Noah completed an intensive language program at National Taiwan University in summer 2022 and looks forward to spending a full year polishing off his domain-specific language skills and gaining professional experience.  

Noah says, “Following my year abroad in Taiwan, I plan to pursue a career in the federal government as a trade enforcement or legal analyst, which would allow me to continue to use the linguistic skills that I have worked hard to attain. With the help of professors such as Dr. Timothy Rich, Dr. Alexander Poole, Dr. Melinda Grimsley of OSD, and the entire Chinese Flagship Office, I earned a Boren Scholarship that will help me pursue my academic, professional, and personal goals and chase my dreams.” 

Langley Williams is the daughter of Lisa Williams of Elizabethtown studying Biochemistry and Chinese. Langley’s STEM pathway is distinctive among many Boren Scholarship applicants, who tend to come from social science and humanities backgrounds. The application process, however, revealed new and exciting opportunities.  

Langley says, “For me, government had always strictly equated to politics, and so I had never been interested in government work. After learning about Boren and completing the application, I realized that federal work is far broader of a category than policy and politics. For science in particular, there is a wide range of opportunities.” After Capstone, she plans to pursue a PhD and completing her federal service in a Department of Defense lab around the issue of antibiotic resistance. 

Reece Gillespie is a Chinese, Arabic, and International Business major from Knoxville, Tennessee. Reece has been named an alternate, and his status will be upgraded if additional funding becomes available. Reece plans to complete his Capstone internship in a company that allows him to apply his major focus in supply chain management and transition to a career using it and his multiple language proficiencies. 

The David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the United States. In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year. “The National Security Education Program,” according to Dr. Michael A. Nugent, Director of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO), “is helping change the U.S. higher education system and the way Americans approach the study of foreign languages and cultures.” 

Since 1994, over 7400 American students have received Boren Awards and contributed their vital skills to careers in support of the critical missions of agencies throughout the federal government. “To continue to play a leadership role in the world, it is vital that America’s future leaders have a deep understanding of the rest of the world,” says former U.S. Senator David Boren, the principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program. “As we seek to lead through partnerships, understanding of other cultures and languages is absolutely essential.” 

About the Office of Scholar Development: The Office of Scholar Development mentors students applying for national scholarships to fund “academic extras” such as study abroad, research, professional experience, and more. From first drafts to final submissions with multiple revisions in between, OSD helps students make more possible. By conceptualizing and revising the stories they tell in application essays and interviews, students better understand their strengths, interests, and purpose—and explore multiple possible pathways to that work. 

About the Chinese Flagship Program: WKU's federally funded Chinese Flagship Program dynamically integrates Chinese language instruction in every stage of the undergraduate educational path. It is designed to bring talented students who start with no knowledge of Chinese up to superior levels of proficiency by the time they graduate from college by infusing study in the Mahurin Honors College with Chinese language learning opportunities, incorporating a series of mandatory study abroad experiences and internships throughout students’ collegiate careers, and transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries that separate language education from learning within the major. 

Contact: Melinda Grimsley melinda.grimsley@wku.edu