MPH China Trip students essay and parent statement
Summer 2010

Adam Feiszli
I think my friends and family would describe me as a happy and fun person. I get along with everyone and I am ready to do anything. Sports are a big part of my life. I love to play any sport. This year I am playing both soccer and lacrosse for school, and I usually participate in football, and other sports after school with my friends. I've really been waiting to travel outside of North America and see other parts of the world. I'd be extremely excited to travel to China and experience the different culture, and see the country .

Parker McQueeny

I want to learn Chinese because I am not satisfied knowing only one language. Later on in life, I want to travel the world. Knowing Chinese is a good start to being successful in that area. I know many people from foreign countries. I am not satisfied with knowing just English, because every one of them is multilingual. If I were to be a citizen of the world, and not just the U.S., I would need to know other languages than just English. It is also possible that my future career would involve the use of other languages. I am not positive about what I want to be at this moment, but anything such as a translator is possible. My goal is to become fluent in Chinese, and hopefully other languages as well. Studying abroad this summer would greatly increase my skill and bring me closer to that goal.

Jon Koss
Two years ago, I became interested in the Chinese language because it was intriguing and so different for my native English and the Latin I studied in school. Knowing Chinese opens the door to communication with over a billion people, while none of the other languages taught in my school offers such a rich possibility. When I learned about the NSLI program, I saw it as a magnificent opportunity, not only to improve my Chinese but also to be able to experience Chinese culture first hand. No matter how good one’s teacher is, nothing compares to being there.