Kaley Harless Kaley Harless, a 15-yearold student in APO, AE, has been awarded one of 650 National Security Language Initiative for Youth Scholarships (NSLI-Y) for 2010/2011. NSLI-Y, funded by the U.S. Department of State, is administered by a consortium of nonprofit organizations led by American Councils for International Education and including AFS-USA, iEARN-USA and Concordia Language Villages.

The merit-based scholarship covers all program costs for participants including domestic and international travel; tuition and related academic preparation, support and testing for language study; educational and cultural activities focused on language learning; orientations; applicable visa fees; three basic meals per day; and accommodations, preferably in a host family.

The NSLI-Y scholarship enables Kaley to study Arabic in Egypt for the summer.

Launched as part of a U.S. Government initiative in 2006, NSLI-Y seeks to increase Americans’ capacity to engage with native speakers of critical languages by providing formal and informal language learning and practice and by promoting mutual understanding through educational and cultural activities.

NSLI-Y offers overseas study opportunities for summer, semester and academic year language learning in Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Russian and Turkish. NSLI-Y scholars are between 15- and 18- years old.

The goals of the NSLI-Y program include sparking a life-long interest in foreign languages and cultures, and developing a corps of young Americans with the skills necessary to advance international dialogue in the private, academic or government sectors, building upon the foundations developed through personto person relationships.

Through her participation in the program, Kaley will be in vanguard of international communication and will develop the skills necessary to be a leader in the global community.

Kaley is the daughter of Lila and Gary Harless and the granddaughter of Nova Sahtout and the late Mike Sahtout of Kingsville.

Applications for 2011/2012 NSLI-Y programs will be available at www.nsliforyouth.org in the early fall.