Colin Powell School鈥檚 Ryan Walsh & Marieme Jiddou win top State Dept. language scholarships

Graduate student Ryan Walsh and senior Marieme Jiddou, both from T九色视频鈥檚 Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, are recipients of highly competitive (CLS) from the United States Department of State. 

The CLS program provides overseas foreign language instruction and cultural immersion experiences for American undergraduate and graduate students in 14 critical need languages to promote rapid language gains and essential intercultural fluency in regions that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.

Walsh is currently working on his master鈥檚 thesis in international affairs while interning for the U.S. Department of State. Additionally, he is a Colin Powell Graduate Fellow in Leadership and Public Service exploring the intersection of social justice issues, historic preservation, and the international system.

The San Antonio, Texas, native holds an M.S. in historic preservation from Columbia University and a bachelor鈥檚 in environmental design from Texas A&M University.

As a CLS recipient, he will study Turkish at , T眉rkiye from June 15 to August 10. After studying Turkish, Walsh will enroll at CUNY Law this fall to pursue a juris doctor with a focus on international law.

Walsh is a former New York City public school teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer, and Ironman triathlete.

Marieme Jiddou, a graduating senior majoring in international studies, will study Arabic. An immigrant from Nouakchott, Mauritania, in northwest Africa, her scholarship is for the CLS Spark program, an 8.5-week intensive virtual program hosted through the University of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. This program runs from June through August and is entirely online.   

Like Walsh, the Bronx resident鈥檚 future plans include studying law -- she鈥檇 like to focus on immigration law 鈥 and a career as a foreign service officer in the Department of State.

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Jay Mwamba
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