After his first semester, University of North Georgia freshman Jamar Shumaker felt ready to take a foreign language. His first inclination was Korean, but the introductory class was not offered that semester. He opted for Chinese.
"I've heard German, French and Russian, and none of them attracted me," he said. "I've never heard anyone speak Chinese. It was an anomaly to me. I thought I would give it a shot."
Shumaker said it was the best decision he could have made. He earned a degree in East Asian studies with a concentration in Chinese in May 2021.
"From the first day of class, I really enjoyed the language," he said. "It really made me happy, and I knew I had to continue to study this language."
Shumaker enrolled in UNG's Chinese Language Flagship program. It is an intensive five-year program that provides a unique opportunity for dedicated undergraduate students to achieve professional-level competency in Chinese language and culture.
In the program, Shumaker connected with Chi-Hsuan Catterson, senior lecturer of Chinese at UNG and academic director of its Chinese Language Flagship.
"She inspired and motivated me to learn the language," Shumaker said. "And then she recommended the Flagship students apply for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)."
The scholarship program is a fully funded overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students. Its goal is to broaden the base of Americans who study and master critical languages and build relationships between the people of the United States and other countries.
Because of his respect for Catterson, Shumaker applied to the highly competitive program. In spring 2019, he was one of four UNG students to earn the coveted scholarship.
"I was surprised and shocked and in disbelief," he said. "It didn't seem logical or real for me to be able to go to China for free."
He spent eight weeks in China learning the language and immersing himself in the culture.
"I figured out how they lived and saw how different their life is compared to the American way of life," Shumaker said.
He said this kind of opportunity would not have been possible without the scholarship. Shumaker explained the HOPE scholarship and Pell grant helped fund his college education. Extra opportunities such as a study abroad proved difficult to fund.
Therefore, Shumaker searched for future scholarship opportunities to complete his education and study abroad.
To earn the Chinese Flagship certification, he had to complete a capstone year, which is a one-year study abroad trip to mainland China or Taiwan. And he had to reach the required Chinese proficiency level in speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
Of course, none of this would be possible without UNG and its modern language teachers, Shumaker said.
"Our faculty who teach Chinese are the hardest working teachers I've ever had," he said. "They care about your learning. They put their hearts and souls in our learning, and my Chinese has improved with time because of it."
