Junior Annoshae Mirza gained the unique opportunity to spend seven weeks of her summer in Kyrgyzstan, after getting a scholarship to study Russian. The scholarship is the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), a part of a U.S. government initiative to “foster international cooperation by ensuring that Americans have the linguistic skills and cultural knowledge necessary to effectively communicate,” according to NSLI-Y’s website.
Through merit-based scholarships, NSLI-Y provides language study abroad opportunities to American youth, in order to spark a lifetime interest in foreign language. The program was introduced by Former President George W. Bush and is a part of multiple programs funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
“The languages offered by the program are all languages spoken by countries that are big powers in the global political scene right now,” Mirza said. “Countries like Russia, China, and India are all important countries to know how to deal with in diplomacy and foreign politics. When we visited the Embassy, they told us that this program is meant to encourage us to join, for example, the Foreign Service, and utilize your language skills to help the government.”
NSLI-Y offers a variety of language immersion programs in places all over the world, but Mirza participated in the Russian summer program in Kyrgyzstan, where she studied at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek. The purpose of the program is to improve the participants’ reading, writing, speaking and listening language skills through language instruction, cultural presentations and activities, and host family stays. Students in this program study Russian for approximately 20 hours per week, and also get time to immerse themselves in and become more knowledgeable about Russian culture, society, religion, and politics.
“For some of our cultural excursions, we learned how to do a Kyrgyz dance, how to make traditional Kyrgyz food, and about Kyrgyz musical instruments,” Mirza said. “We also had a three day overnight trip to a lake nearby, where we camped.” Mirza spent a lot of time immersing herself in the culture by exploring the city and having conversations with native speakers. “For example, my friends and I went to bazaars a lot because you are pretty much forced to speak to people in Russian, since most people will not be speaking English,” Mirza said.
As a part of the program’s application, Mirza needed a letter of recommendation, which Upper School history teacher, Susan Elliott, wrote. “Not only does Annoshae have outstanding intellectual curiosity,” Elliott said, “but I think that her interest in languages drives her interests in a lot of other fields, like poetry, and music, and history, so that made her a great candidate for the program.”
Mirza credits part of her interest in Russian to her involvement with fencing, something that she has done since she was eight years old. “In the American fencing community, pretty much every coach is a Russian speaker, so from an early age, I was exposed to a lot of people who spoke Russian,” Mirza said. Her fencing coaches were crucial in helping her learn Russian, since she was able to practice with them. “Also, in sixth grade, Mr. Drury introduced me to Russian literature, and I absolutely fell in love with it.” Mirza learned Russian for fun and, when COVID happened, made it into her COVID hobby. That was where she discovered her love for language learning. “That’s what brought me on this path of linguistics, and to bring it further into cultural understanding and wanting to be a diplomat.”
Mirza’s favorite part of the program was the opportunity for immersion. “It’s a unique program, and I really enjoyed the fact that I was pushed out of my comfort zone to be able to speak Russian for most of the day,” Mirza said. “I would totally encourage people to apply for this opportunity because there’s no real prerequisite other than being passionate about languages and culture.”
