Language students and alumni are representing Boise State well across the globe.
Joey Bradshaw (BA, German, Latin minor, 2023) and Katherine Bukhantsov (BA, German, English literature, global studies, linguistics minor, elementary Chinese certificate, 2023) received one-year secondary education teaching posts through the prestigious U.S. Teaching Assistantship Program – Fulbright Austria.
Fulbright Austria administers this program on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. Boise State hasn’t had a winner in several years.
Bradshaw is teaching English at a secondary school in Hollabrunn. Bukhantsov is teaching in two schools: in the Europagymnasium in the town of Baumgartenberg, and the “BORG” or Federal Senior High School in the neighboring town of Perg.
Senior Kelsi Ramakers (BA, global studies, German minor, 2023) is an alternate for the program.
Emily Hawley, (BA, Spanish secondary education, 2023) is teaching English in Colombia South America through the Fulbright Teaching Assistant program.
Also on the language front, Emma Eason (BA, German, history minor, 2022) worked as an interpreter and more at the Special Olympics World Games in June 2023 in Berlin, Germany. Eason came to the job well-prepared through her language study, but also through her many years of working with students with disabilities in Idaho, including as a Special Olympics coach.
Heike Henderson and Beret Norman, professor and associate professor of German in the Department of World Languages respectively, agreed that these students’ successes inspire other students to study languages and embark on adventures that would not be possible otherwise. Their accomplishments also illustrate the strength of language programs at Boise State.
Henderson and Norman shared key findings from a 2023 Language Connects study:
- Nine out of 10 U.S. employers rely on employees with language skills other than English.
- 56 percent say their language demand will increase in the next five years.
- 47 percent state a need for language skills exclusively for the domestic market.
- One in three language-dependent U.S. employers report a language skills gap.
- One in four U.S. employers lost business due to a lack of language skills.