Itasca resident receives State Dept. scholarship

Maria Folvarska, of Itasca, Illinois, is one of two University of Illinois at Chicago students who have been awarded U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships for intensive foreign language study this summer.

The competitive study abroad award will place Folvarska in a fully funded 8-week language program with cultural enrichment experiences.

The scholarships are part of the National Security Language Initiative, a federal inter-agency effort to increase the number of Americans mastering critical-need languages. Recipients are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their language skills in their professional careers.

Folvarska, a senior dual majoring in history and mathematics and computer science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will study advanced level Russian at the KORA Russian Language Center in Vladimir, Russia.

She is currently working on a research project about the Canadian Doukhobors, a Russian dissident sect that migrated from the Caucasus region to Canada at the end of the 19th century. In addition to her study of central and eastern European history, she is minoring in French and a member of the UIC Honors College.

Born in Slovakia, Folvarska is a 2013 graduate of Lake Park High School and plans to attend graduate school for Russian history or become a foreign service officer.