Recent Columbia River High School graduate and former International Baccalaureate student Symphony Koss received a National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Now, Koss is spending a year in Taiwan, where she’s learning Mandarin Chinese, living with a host family and experiencing the local culture. More than 3,300 students applied; only 660 were selected for the program, a government initiative to improve Americans’ ability to communicate in select critical languages, advance international dialogue and increase American economic global competitiveness.
In addition to receiving the National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship, Koss also was named a 2019 Coca-Cola Scholar, one of 150 selected from 95,000 applicants. She was awarded a $20,000 scholarship, which she’ll put to use at Stanford University, when she enrolls in September 2020.
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