OURS National Scholarships

Giselle Carreño (‘25, Business Administration / Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature) is a first-generation Latina college student raised in a low-income Hispanic community in Northern California. She developed a love for building community through language by translating at clinics, churches, and her school district. Through this experience, she gave Spanish-speaking individuals access to free healthcare and educational resources. At Berkeley, she developed an interest in Portuguese to reach all of Latin America and connect cultures through her work as VP of Professional Development at the Latinx Business Student Association. […]

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Utkarsh Dubey (‘27, Political Science/History) was born in Mumbai. He immigrated to America at a young age and now resides in Dallas, Texas. He will spend the summer Lucknow, India furthering his knowledge of Urdu. Utkarsh plans to use the linguistic skills gained from CLS to help create spaces of transparency and cooperation between South Asian and United States governments, working at the intersection of law and foreign policy. Utkarsh hopes to use his Urdu language skills to support South Asian communities in the United States and overseas through legal, […]

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Abigail Klein (’26, Russian Language & Culture / Psychology) is headed to Daugavpils, Latvia to study Russian. She was raised in Southern California, where she grew up around Spanish-speaking communities and saw firsthand the power of language learning. This appreciation drives her study of Russian, alongside her love for Russian literature. Abigail is an editor of Troika, UC Berkeley’s undergraduate Slavic journal. In addition, she frequents Russian Conversation Hour, where she and other language learners practice their Russian over tea and Russian candies. As Vice President of UC Berkeley Best […]

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Tiffany Mar (’25, Society and Environment, Data Science minor) is excited to be a part of the CLS 2025 cohort to explore Bahasa Indonesia. She is interested in exploring how community-driven solutions can solve pressing sustainability challenges. In the future, she would like to use her Indonesian skills to pursue a career in geospatial research where she can advocate for both people and the planet. In her free time, Tiffany enjoys making music, exploring martial arts, and picnicking with friends on the Glade.

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Khephra Owl (’25, Educational Sciences) will be traveling to Okayama, Japan to study Japanese. She grew up watching Ghibli movies such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, which led her to studying various aspects of Japanese culture, such as Zen Buddhism, Shintoism, and Japanese ghost stories. In 2023, she studied abroad in Kyoto, Japan through UCEAP and discovered several stark contrasts between US and Japanese cultures, which showed her the value of learning from each other in areas such as self-expression and honoring tradition. As a transfer student, Khephra […]

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Arya Vishin (‘25, English/South Asian Studies) will spend his summer studying Hindi in Jaipur, India. He is a senior from San Jose, California, currently writing his honors thesis in South Asian Studies. Some of his research interests include theater and performance studies, poetry/poetics, and adaptation/appropriation. Last year, he studied Kashmiri in Gurgaon through the AIIS, and is excited to return to India for another summer of language learning. In the fall, he will utilize his training as he starts his PhD in Harvard’s department of Comparative Literature.

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Sara Ahlich (’24, Conservation and Resource Studies) was born and raised in the Bay Area, where she attended Diablo Valley College before transferring to UC Berkeley. Her studies have been focused on natural history and ecosystem management, and she hopes to use her Portuguese and Russian abilities to work in international conservation efforts. In addition to a SPUR position at Berkeley, she works for the East Bay Regional Park District and interns for the EPA. She has previously studied Russian with CLS during the inaugural year of CLS Spark and […]

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Fraser Byers (’25, Geography) was born in North Carolina and grew up in Western Canada. He is part of UC Berkeley’s dual degree program with Sciences Po in Paris, where he completed a degree in Politics and Government specializing in the Middle East. Fraser’s studies at Berkeley have been concerned with Earth Systems Science, particularly focusing on water. In addition, he is an undergraduate researcher at the Human Rights Center and a reporting intern for Circle of Blue. This Critical Language Scholarship will support studying Hindi in Jaipur, India in […]

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Charlie Kim-Worthington (’26, Greek & Latin / Urban Studies) will be studying Russian this summer with the Critical Language Scholarship Spark program. Having previously studied Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, and Latin, she is thrilled to expand her language skills through CLS. They have tutored unhoused children with School on Wheels in Los Angeles, have been a URAP research assistant in the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, and currently work at the Environmental Design Library. As a simultaneous degree student in CED and L&S, Charlie is passionate about urban […]

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Ava Ratcliff (’26, Greek & Latin/Comparative Literature) looks forward to deepening her understanding of Russian this summer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Ava began studying Russian, alongside Ancient Greek and Latin, as a freshman at Berkeley. She plans to use the skills she develops this summer to read nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature in its original language. Ava is driven by a passion for reading and sharing literature with others and is currently the librarian for Bowles Hall Residential College. Before Berkeley, she served with AmeriCorps City Year as a fifth-grade teaching […]

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David Villani (‘24, History /Arabic) will continue his Arabic education this summer in Amman, Jordan. He began his Arabic studies in Morocco two years ago, and has since received the Foreign Language Area Scholarship to study in Oman, where he was a recipient of the 2023 Summer Arabic Language and Media (SALAM) scholarship. He is interested in the French presence in West Africa, with a particular focus on the personal relationships created through the practice of empire. For the past year, he’s been studying the ties between French communism and […]

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Valerian Weinzweig (’25, Conservation Resource Studies) is concentrating on Agroecology with a minor in Mathematics. She dreams of being able to collaborate with scientists and practitioners across a wide range of cultures, places, and languages in order to tackle tomorrow’s agricultural challenges as a team. Valerian has previously studied Spanish and Russian, and is now overjoyed to participate in the CLS Urdu program. In particular, he looks forward to understanding the literary traditions of the Urdu language, and finally being able to belt their favorite Atif Aslam songs.

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Sara Ahlich (’24, Conservation and Resource Studies) is concentrating on Ecosystem Management and Interpretation and also working toward a minor in Forestry and Natural Resources. While she loves language-learning for its own sake, she hopes to use her Portuguese and Russian skills to facilitate environmentally sound and socially just resource management in critical regions worldwide. Having studied Russian language in the inaugural year of the online CLS Spark program, Sara is excited to now experience the culture and languages of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan first-hand. Upon her return to Berkeley, she plans […]

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Julian Martinez-Garcia (’23, Linguistics) will spend his summer in Malang, Indonesia studying Bahasa Indonesia. An avid language learner and traveler, Julian has taken four semesters of Polish classes at UC Berkeley and previously lived in Maastricht, The Netherlands as an exchange student. He is excited to learn a structurally different language in a fully immersive environment. Julian plans to use his skills in Indonesian and other languages as gateways to further study of linguistic diversity and language change, or in a career in an international organization.

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Clio Smith (’23, Business Administration and Data Science) is an avid language learner and cultural explorer who has lived in Japan and Germany as an exchange student. This summer, she is heading to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to study Portuguese and explore the cultural art scene. Clio plans on using her skills in Spanish, German, Chinese, and Portuguese in her international business career.

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Kyle Terrizzi (’23, Comparative Literature and East Asian Religion, Thought & Culture) will spend the summer continuing their Mandarin language study at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, Taiwan. In less than two years, Kyle has completed four semesters of Mandarin and two semesters of Literary Chinese at UC Berkeley, as well as having attended the Mandarin immersion program at the Middlebury Language School in Summer 2022. Kyle is also the Undergraduate Student Liaison for the Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley. In addition to being a full-time student, […]

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Amarpreet Kaur (Social Welfare, ’22) will spend the summer studying Punjabi in Chandigarh, Punjab, India. She has spent the past few years working at the intersections of social welfare, public policy, and advocacy. Amarpreet has worked with the NAACP in Washington, D.C. and the Brennan Center for Justice, as well as other organizations. Amarpreet will use her Punjabi language skills to continue to advocate for the Punjabi-Sikh community in the United States and abroad through policy and government affairs.

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Ransom Miller (Global Studies, ’24) is headed to Tainan, Taiwan to study Mandarin. A sophomore, Ransom fit two years of Chinese into his freshman year at Cal and the following summer, qualifying him to apply for this particular CLS program. He plans to become a foreign service officer in the U.S. State Department and use his language skills throughout his career.

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Kristie Moore (Global Studies, ’25) will continue her Russian studies in the CLS program in Bishkek, Kyrgystan this summer. Kristie, a freshman from Southern California, studied Russian in Moscow in 2019 through NSLI-Y, the U.S. State Department’s overseas language program for high school students, for which Kristie serves as an alumni representative. She hopes to study East European Studies/Russian in graduate school and possibly pursue a stateside career in the State Department.

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Maurice Ruttimann (Interdisciplinary Studies, ’22) will spend the summer studying advanced Turkish in Ankara. He is now in his second semester of Turkish Poetry and Literature at Cal. To build on his linguistic skills and extend his time abroad in Turkey, Maurice has secured funding support from UC Berkeley’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies to take courses on international trade at Boazii University in Istanbul in Fall 2022.

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Satyam Sharma (intended Math, ORMS, and Business ,‘25) will continue pursuing his love of languages and cultures with the CLS program in Tbilisi, Georgia this summer. A freshman from Southern California, Satyam is ecstatic to make lifelong friends through the scholarship and develop a firsthand understanding of ongoing crises in the region.

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Blue Fay graduated from UC Berkeley in December 2020 with a BA in Legal Studies and a minor in Chinese. While learning Mandarin, he developed a deep interest in Redology, the study of Cao Xue-qin’s The Dream of the Red Chamber. In the Spring of 2020, he was awarded the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures inaugural YR Chao Prize for an essay titled, “The Thirteenth Beauty of Jinling: Suppression and Ephemerality in The Dream of the Red Chamber.” Blue’s love of creative writing was nurtured by the four […]

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Aurora Lopez is a senior studying Political Science with a specialization in International Relations. In preparation for a career in foreign relations, she has taken courses outside her major to gain a better understanding of international cooperation, such as Gulf States, Spanish, and Arabic courses. She also interned for the British Consulate General, where she worked with international personnel in San Francisco. Currently, she’s interning with the Department of State, assisting Foreign Service Officers who wish to promote U.S. diplomacy around the globe. Overall, Aurora is interested in understanding the […]

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Charlotte McClelland is a third year undergraduate double majoring in Economics and Arabic Language & Literature. She is particularly interested in development economics and hopes to combine her knowledge of Arabic and economics in her future career. She also loves language learning and the ability it gives her to build relationships with others from diverse backgrounds. This summer she will be studying Arabic in Ibri, Oman (virtually) through the Critical Language Scholarship.

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Ramil Mercado is a senior in the College of Letters and Science and is majoring in Political Science and Asian Studies-China with a minor in Southeast Asian Studies. He is interested in Southeast Asian culture and politics, specifically in Insular Southeast Asia. He is studying Bahasa Indonesian in Indonesia in order to learn one of the most important languages of the region to prepare himself for graduate studies on the region. He looks forward to being able to effectively communicate and connect with people across Indonesia, as well as with […]

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Cyara will be graduating from UC Berkeley in Spring 2021 with a B.A. in Political Economy and a concentration on Development and the Environment in the Middle East. After graduation, she plans to focus her interest in sustainable development and passion for learning languages on pursuing a career in international development. This summer she will be studying Arabic in Meknes, Morocco (virtually) through the Critical Language Scholarship.

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Alexandra “Sasha” Bergseid (’29, EECS) is from San Diego. She will be spending the summer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, continuing her study of Russian. As a heritage speaker, Sasha hopes to use these language skills to pursue engineering abroad in the future.

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