Boren Scholarship Awarded to Taylor Osborne

The Boren Scholarship, a Department of Defense award, provides up to $20,000 for long-term (two semester or longer), language-focused study abroad.

Nationally, 1014 students applied for a total 161 Boren awards this year.  In exchange for funding, scholarship recipients commit to seek employment in any government sector involving national security.  Ms. Osborne intends to study at the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan to take an intensive language course.   After she returns, she wants to find employment in the State Department to fulfill the government service requirement.

Ms. Osborne is currently pursuing a dual degree in Japanese and English as well as a minor in Creative Writing. She has studied Spanish for six years and has previously studied abroad in Chile over the Winter Term by taking the course "Chilean Literature, Democracy, and Social Change" offered through the Jimenez-Porter House.

She started studying Japanese because she thought the calligraphy was beautiful and started to teach herself the language while she was still in high school.  She is excited to test out her language skills with native speakers as a result of receiving this scholarship.