Anam Bakali, a senior photojournalism and interdisciplinary art and design studies major, earned a highly prestigious Critical Language Scholarship from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to study Arabic in Tunisia this summer.
Bakali is among 621 undergraduate and graduate students at U.S. colleges and universities selected for the scholarship among more than 5,200 applicants. Scholarship winners’ expenses are paid to travel overseas to study one of 13 languages that have been designated as “critical languages” by the U.S. government because there is a need for more trained speakers in those languages in business and government positions.
Bakali, who previously studied Arabic as a young child, plans to receive her bachelor’s degree this spring and work in graphic design. Her long-term plans are to work in the Middle East as a travel photographer.