Matisse discovered her love for Russian literature after reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment as a senior in high school. She is currently pursuing a double major in Russian and graphic design and enjoys exploring where the two areas overlap. As a FLAS scholar, she is studying Russian in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. 

Kyle loves film-making, teaching, and tennis. After a mission in the Philippines, he taught Tagalog for three years. Now Kyle is learning Danish to complement his future graduate work in education. His plan is to pursue a master's in instructional psychology and technology followed by a PhD in instructional evaluation. He hopes to research and contribute to the development of international education systems.

Whether living in Brazil as a missionary, living in Peru as an independent language student, or traveling throughout Europe and South America with a simple backpack, Brandall has been interested in multicultural linguistics and language fluency, which was facilitated by the FLAS scholarship. He aspires to continue his education by attending law school with an emphasis in governmental and international law, focusing on utilizing the influence of languages and effective communication to actively enhance U.S. relations abroad.

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Driven with unquenchable need to explore, Sarah has looked for opportunities to travel. She particularly loves looking into the deep cultural and political histories of each place she visits. After undergraduate and graduate studies, Sarah hopes to work in international affairs and take the wonderful experiences that BYU, and especially the Kennedy Center, have provided and use them to impact global politics for the better.

Since serving a mission in Poland, Ben has had the opportunity of working in Afghanistan with a Polish sapper unit. His interest in the culture and language of Poland led him to find the opportunity to go to Poland this year to work on his language skills. He also hopes to be able to utilize his legal education and obtain an internship at a law firm representing the Polish government in international trade treaty disputes. This will help Ben in his career as an attorney and as a Judge Advocate for the Utah National Guard.

Sarah has had many opportunities to increase her passion for Europe, including a semester abroad in Paris, and a mission in Romania and Moldova. She became interested in the Foreign Service during her internship for Joseph Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Currently, she teaches Romanian at BYU and will apply for MA programs in Eastern European studies in the fall.

Ivan spent time in Europe while going to school as a youth. His love of languages was fostered while learning to speak Bulgarian, German, and Spanish. He graduated with degrees in Spanish studies and management from the University of Minnesota, and now the FLAS scholarship is aiding him to further his goals by providing an opportunity to learn Portuguese.

Jonathan is completing the sociology graduate program at BYU, researching the relationship between distance demolishing technologies and social change in Southeast Asia. Since returning from the Thailand Bangkok Mission, he has endeavored to obtain a greater cultural, linguistic, and social understanding of Thailand as well as Southeast Asia as a whole. He is currently studying Vietnamese as a graduate student FLAS Fellow.

Michele's mother escaped Vietnam on a fishing boat, risking her life, so her future children could have the opportunities she was denied. Michele has completed internships in the Dominican Republic and Bolivia and studied at El Tecnológico de Monterrey. This summer, she will embark upon a lifelong journey to learn Vietnamese as a FLAS fellow in Vietnam. After graduating with a master’s in sociology, she plans to pursue a JD/PhD to become an advocate for refugees, immigrants, and vulnerable minority groups in the U.S. and abroad.

After being introduced to the Chinese people on her mission, Danielle fell in love with the culture and has a desire to share it with others around her. Upon graduating, she hopes to combine her degree with Chinese and continue studies in either secondary language education or business to help bridge the gap of communication between cultures.

There is estimated to be over 7,000 languages in the world, and David thinks it’s a shame he doesn’t have time to learn all of them. His fascination with language and linguistics has driven him to study various languages from around the globe, including Spanish, Marshallese, Russian, and Kichwa, the latter is spoken in the Amazon region of Ecuador. He believes our understanding of the world grows as we learn how different peoples encode it in their language.

Dane is an avid traveler, student of languages, and "world citizen." His U.S./Danish dual citizenship has allowed him to live and work abroad and assimilate into multiple cultures, including multiple humanitarian expeditions in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. He is currently a junior and teaches Danish 101/102.

Having seen and experienced great changes in his family's Navajo background, Ben has had great interest for understanding change occurring throughout the world. He has pursued this interest through his political science major and hopes to gain a greater understanding of the world by spending the summer in Italy. Upon graduating, he plans to further his passion by pursuing a PhD in political science.

Rebecca began studying Chinese in seventh grade and has continued with the hope of sharing Chinese language and culture with her future students. She has travelled through Europe and China, enjoying every opportunity to learn about culture and history around the world. After graduation she hopes to be a history and Chinese teacher in secondary schools to broaden students’ understanding of other peoples.