A weekly publication for the BGSU community

Christopher Kay studies Arabic at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in preparation for his stay in Jordan.

BGSU sophomore Christopher Kay is one of only 30 people nationwide to receive a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic in Amman, Jordan, this summer.

Kay left June 15 on the six-week, all-expenses-paid trip, which is sponsored by the state department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. Competition was intense—there were more than 1,200 applicants for the 30 spots. The other winners came from some of the most elite institutions—such as Harvard, Boston College, the University of California at Los Angeles, Northwestern and Arizona State University—which tend to have Middle East Studies departments.

But Kay has something going for him that few others have: actual experience in the Middle East, having served in the Iraq war. When the war broke out while he was in high school, he enrolled in the Ohio Army National Guard the day after his 17th birthday and went to basic training between his junior and senior years. He delayed his college enrollment until he had completed advanced infantry training following graduation from Sylvania Southview High School.
[READ MORE]