[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 11, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H5420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING PENN STATE UNIVERSITY CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARS

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
two Penn State University students who received critical language 
scholarships following their completion of the U.S. Department of 
State's Critical Language Scholarship Program in the summer of 2016.
  The following students were two of the 564 total selected 
participants. A total of 5,700 students applied.
  Janet Purdy, of State College, reached an intermediate level of 
Swahili while studying in Tanzania; and Erika Pugh, of Boalsburg, 
achieved an advanced level of Arabic while studying in Russia.
  The Critical Language Scholarship Program is a crucial component of 
our Federal Government's goal to encourage Americans to master 
languages that are essential to our national security and economic 
prosperity. These students study abroad in rigorous summer institutes, 
learning these critical foreign languages, while engaging with citizens 
of the host countries to further their cultural educations.
  We are proud of these two outstanding students from the Pennsylvania 
State University for their achievements. Congratulations, Janet and 
Erika.

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