FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Erin Whelchel
703.894.2900 ext. 124
ACTFL and its Lead with Languages campaign are pleased to announce the selection of ten 2020 awardees of the Lead with Languages Teacher Scholarship Program which provides merit-based funding to graduating high school seniors committed to pursuing the language teaching profession in languages other than English. Each of these incoming undergraduate students will receive an annual award of $1,500 per academic year, renewable to a cumulative total of $6,000 per recipient, as well as 1-year complimentary ACTFL membership including access to the ACTFL Mentorship Program aimed at early-career language teachers upon graduation and entry into the field.
The scholars were selected from a pool of submitted applications containing moving essays about their motivation to join the teaching profession. Applications were reviewed by a volunteer committee of language educators.
This represents the second class of scholars to enter the program, launched in 2019 as the inaugural initiative of the Lead with Languages Scholarship Fund.
With a nearly universal shortage of language educators reported in at least 44 states plus the District of Columbia, ACTFL and the Lead with Languages campaign continue to prioritize efforts to recruit, retain, and support qualified and passionate teachers of all languages.
Read about the scholars and their journeys in the announcement, Congratulations to the 2020 Class of Teacher Scholars.
For more information follow Lead with Languages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
About Lead with Languages
Created in 2017, Lead with Languages is a national, multi-year campaign powered by ACTFL, aimed at reversing the nation’s language skills gap and making language learning a national priority. The campaign seeks to build awareness across the U.S. about the growing importance of language skills to a wide array of careers—and to our nation’s economy, national security and international standing—with the ultimate goal of supporting a new generation of Americans competent in other languages and cultures and equipped to compete and succeed in a global economy.