Program taking local teen overseas

SANDPOINT — By the time she is finished with college, Emma Dreier will be a world traveler, immersed in different languages and cultures.

Before heading to college in China, the Sandpoint High School senior will spend a year in Seoul, South Korea, through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth program.

“Basically, It is a full-ride scholarship to study a language intensively that is not widely taught in U.S. schools, but is critical to U.S. security,” Dreier said.

Participants of the NSLI-Y program spend a summer or academic year studying a language while immersed in the culture and day-to-day life of the host country. Dreier will spend the academic year in Seoul. While living with a host family, she will take 10-16 hours of language classes each week, while attending the local Korean high school. Since she will not be taking college instruction during her time in South Korea, it is considered a gap year, she said.

“They don’t expect you to do any work while you are there, it is more to immerse yourself within the people and make connections with people your age who are locals there,” Dreier said.

Dreier said she heard about the program through another SHS student who had applied for the Chinese program, though she had ended up not going. At first, Dreier said, she had been interested in the Chinese program as well, until she learned about the Korean program.

Her interest in different cultures stemmed from the Model United Nations class she took at SHS as a sophomore. Dreier said she “really enjoyed” the class and the global spectrum it exposed her to, particularly when it came to refugees. While her focus during the class was on Syria, she later turned her interest toward North Korean defectors.

“It exposed me to a lot of stuff about South Korea and really made me interested in seeing that part of the world,” she said. “Taking that class changed my life … everything is just kind of falling together — it’s amazing.”

It was no simple feat, however, as she had to get letters of recommendation from teachers and parents, as well as write seven essays. She had to write a letter to her host family, which she said was difficult because she didn’t know who her host family would be. So the letter had to be good, but somewhat generic. She also had to provide extensive details to NSLI-Y on why she would be the “perfect” person for the program and that she could handle a long-term study abroad.

“It was definitely a lot of hard work, and a lot of just making sure I was really myself,” she said. “Writing the essays was hugely stressful, but then when editing them, I had to be sure I was staying true to myself and not just following what I thought they would like.”

Her mom would read through the essays to make sure she was being genuine, and Dreier would rewrite them if her mom thought it was warranted.

“It was amazing to have that kind of support from my family,” she said.

She started the application process in September, she said, and had everything in by the October deadline. In December, Drier found out she had made the semifinalist list, which included an in-person interview in Spokane, as well as a lot of forms to fill out on her medical history to ensure she is physically fit for the year abroad.

Then it was time to wait. Some of the groups in the program began to hear results as early as February, she said, but hers was the last to know. She finally got the news on April 15.

“It was agony,” Dreier said. “And I was so nervous. It was such a stressful process, and it is a highly competitive scholarship, so you can’t really be sure. You can think you are the perfect person, but you still might not get in, because they are looking for something very specific. It is so hard to narrow down exactly what they want.”

The process was also stressful, she said, because when she started in September, she was also filling out applications for college. She will be attending Duke University in Shanghai, China, to study political science or international relations. She has also applied for scholarships this year in hopes they can be deferred to when she starts college after her gap year.

She will leave for South Korea in mid-September and return in late May or early June.

Dreier will graduate from SHS in June with high honors. In addition to all of her hard work at school, she has worked part time at Yoke’s for more than a year. She is also involved in the National Honor Society and Interact Club.

“I love being a part of a Rotary organization,” she said. “I think it is super impactful to that influence you can have both in your local community and globally.”

Jeralyn Mire, SHS postsecondary counselor, said what she is most excited about when it comes to Drier is that the youth put in the work and “set her sights on achieving great things.” She started working toward her goals early in high school, Mire said, taking the Model U.N. class and language classes through the Idaho Digital Learning Academy.

“She just has been willing to push herself because she has an interest, and she is willing to think outside of the box and work toward a goal of going overseas to study another language,” Mire said. “It is just exciting to see what she gets to do. Her hard work has paid off — we are really proud of her.”

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.