2009 Recipients

Allison Large is a 12th grade student at Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, Manitoba. In addition to being an excellent student, Allison is involved in many extracurricular activities – choir and voice lessons, Sunday school teacher, volunteer work and French lessons. Allison studied Mandarin at the Mandarin Rocks school in Shanghai, China during the summer of 2009, and this is how she described her experience:

            "Ni Hao, my name is Allison Large and I recently won the first ever DS adventure scholarship.  I left for Shanghai China on July 11 to study Mandarin and returned on August 8th, 2009. I have to say my experience in China was absolutely AMAZING, there is no other word to describe it. I attended a program called Mandarin Rocks, it was a small private school that offered morning classes to people who wanted to learn Mandarin. The teachers were great, they all spoke fluent English, and the lessons they offered were very relevant to everyday life. I walked away feeling very confident about my Mandarin base, and would really like to continue my Mandarin studies.
            Another huge benefit of my trip was the friends I walked away with. The other students that attended the school were from all over the world, USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Germany, and the Netherlands to name just a few. Together we spent many afternoons and evenings together experiencing the Chinese culture. These are friendships that have the potential to last a lifetime, and we all had so much fun during our month together; we ate authentic Chinese food (which by the way is NOTHING like its American Counterpart) toured museums, shopped, did some sight seeing and in general just had a really great time. Some of the things we did included touring the zoo, seeing local art galleries, going up to the top of Gin Mao tower (the second tallest building in Shanghai at 88 stories) as well as seeing the local aquarium, and going to see the latest Harry Potter movie.
            Personally I would not trade this experience for the world. I learned more then just a language in Shanghai, I experienced a culture.            It is one thing to learn a language but it is something totally amazing to be immersed into that countries culture while learning it; I walk away knowing not just the countries language but with an understanding of why that language is the way it is, and who the people are that use it.  This past month I spent in China was something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I loved every minute of it, and really hope that some day I can return and see more of the country as one month just was not enough to see and experience everything."

Nevena Popovic is a student in her 4th year at Third Belgrade Grammar School in Belgrade, Serbia. Nevena is a straight-A student with a particular interest in biology and chemistry. Outside of the classroom, Nevena plays basketball, studies German and volunteers at the UNESCO club. She studied English at Tufts University in Boston during the summer of 2009, and this is how she described her experience:

            "When I first came in Boston, I was afraid that it would be really hard for me to fit in - I thought that classes would be too hard and that people wouldn't be so open for new friendships. Only few days were needed for me to realize that there was nothing to worry about. Although they were sometimes hard, classes were interesting and extremely useful, so I enjoyed every minute of those classes. Also, I made friendships with people from every part of the world. I’m still in contact with most of  the people I have meet in Tufts and I am thankful that, with them, I had a chance to have a great time and to meet not only American, but also lots of others cultures in the world. This summer I had the best time in my life and I suggest to everyone to try to have the same experience as I had. Trust me, it is priceless.”