RVCC Graduate Studies in Turkey Through Critical Language Scholarship Program

Stephen Evarts of Frenchtown, a May 2024 graduate of Raritan Valley Community College, recently participated in the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program to study Turkish over the summer. Evarts is one of approximately 500 American students at U.S. colleges and universities who were selected from over 5,000 applicants to study overseas or virtually in the summer of 2024.

The scholarship enabled Evarts to study Turkish at the TÖMER Institute at Ankara University, which specializes in teaching the language to foreigners. They spent eight weeks in the country, studying five days a week and participating in program excursions and cultural activities on the weekends. This ranged from learning to cook local dishes or practicing calligraphy or the ancient arts of Ebru (water-marbling paper); to visiting the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and meeting the U.S. ambassador to Turkey; to exploring such locations as Amasra, a small coastal village on the Black Sea, and the Ihlara Valley in Central Turkey, including Byzantine cave homes and churches that were carved into the cliffs between the 7th-11th centuries C.E.

Earlier this summer, Evarts, who graduated from RVCC Summa Cum Laude, was honored with the 2024 New Jersey Council of County Colleges Student of the Year Award. Beginning in the Spring Semester, Evarts will be attending Rutgers University, where they plan to complete a bachelor's degree in Linguistics with a focus on language acquisition and cognition.

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to increase the number of Americans studying critical foreign languages. The program provides opportunities to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to spend 8-10 weeks studying one of over a dozen critical languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu. The program includes intensive language instruction and cultural enrichment experiences to promote rapid language gains. For additional information, visit http://www.clscholarship.org/.

Ranked by WalletHub.com, Intelligent.com, and CollegeEvaluator.com as the #1 community college in New Jersey, Raritan Valley Community College has been serving as an academic and cultural center for Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for over 50 years. The College has been nationally recognized for its service to the community, environmental stewardship, and commitment to diversity. It is home to a Planetarium, Science Education Institute, and 3M Observatory; a Theatre offering professional performances for all ages; and an Honors College for high achieving students.

The College offers approximately 90 associate degrees and certificates, as well as career training and professional development courses. RVCC is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

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