Eleven one-week scholarships awarded to local fourth and fifth grade students at Concordia Language Villges

The fourteenth Annual Bemidji Area Friends of Concordia Language Villages' Essay Contest was a huge success. Eleven one-week scholarships have been awarded to local fourth and fifth grade students. They were honored in awards ceremony at Skogfjorden, the Norwegian Language Village, on Sunday, March 12th. The ceremony was attended by over 80 people, including 10 of the 11 winners and their families, friends, teachers, donors, and staff of Concordia Language Villages.

The winning essay writers receiving scholarships for the summer of 2017 are:

• Danika DuMarce, – 4th grade, Northern Elementary School, attending the Finnish Language Village

• Keegan Enright – 5th grade, Kelliher Elementary School, attending the Russian Language Village

• Gavin Kapaun - 5th grade, Northern Elementary School, attending the Spanish Language Village

• Chenoa LaDuke-Clark - 5th grade, J.W. Smith Elementary School, attending the Chinese Language Village

• Brynn Meyer – 4th grade, Schoolcraft Learning Community, attending the Norwegian Language Village

• Anna Murphy – 5th grade, J.W. Smith Elementary School, attending the German Language Village

• Elizabeth Quandt – 4th grade, Horace May Elementary School, attending the Italian Language Village

• Jesse Quick – 4th grade, Northern Elementary School, attending the Danish Language Village

• Evalena Reams – 4th grade, Cass Lake-Bena Elementary School, attending the French Language Village

• Ella Thayer – 5th grade, Kelliher Elementary School, attending the Finnish Language Village

• Tristen Wickum – 5th grade, Northome Elementary School, attending the Chinese Language Village

The funding for these scholarships came from a number of local sponsors, including the generous support of Paul Bunyan Telephone Cooperative, First National Bank Bemidji, Bemidji Noon Rotary Club, Super 8 Hotel, the North Country Snowmobile Club, Chester Berg Toyota, Wayne Dondelinger, Naylor Heating and Refrigeration, Herington's Shoes, the Wild Hare Bistro, and numerous individual donors.

Each of these students wrote an excellent 100-150 word essay on the topic "The ways that I could learn and grow from the study of the _______________ language at Concordia Language Villages". Some just want to learn the language and others want to experience the culture and food of a different country or the country of their ancestors. The annual essay contest solicits essays from many area schools as well as from home-schooled students.

The Bemidji Area Friends of Concordia Language Villages was formed in October of 2002 to build connections between Concordia Language Villages and the Bemidji community and surrounding region. Since then, the Friends have coordinated fourteen essay contests awarding a total of 136 week-long scholarships for area students to attend a camp. The Friends also raised additional funds by hosting a Scholarship Benefit Dinner last October with an Arabic banquet, and entertainment by a traditional belly dancing troupe.

(Note: To interview a member of this group please contact Pat or Cal Rice at 218-751-0137)

The mission of Concordia Language Villages is to prepare young people for responsible citizenship in our global community. It has long been a model of innovative programming in immersion education and offers one-, two- and four-week summer sessions - the last being the equivalent of a full year of high school language instruction - in one of 15 languages offered: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Established in 1961, the Language Villages annually serves 10,000 people, of all ages and from all 50 of the United States and many other countries. The summer program offers sessions for 7-18 year-olds and families. Concordia also offers local day camps, this summer in Arabic, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Swiss and Swedish for children ages 6-11 and during the school year we offer programs for school groups, adults and families.

For more information, please call 800-222-4750 or visit http://www.ConcordiaLanguageVillages.org