Korbel Student Earns Prestigious Critical Language Scholarship to Study Chinese in Taiwan

Growing up in Kansas City, Trevor Paulus (MA International Studies, '27) was captivated by his grandmother's love of travel; her fridge covered in magnets from places he'd never been, her calls home from the road. That curiosity about the world eventually led to a seemingly simple decision to study Chinese in high school. "I took Chinese because it seemed cool and different than French or Spanish. Then I had my first class, and I was like, I'm where I'm meant to be."

That first class turned out to be the beginning of a path that has taken him across the Pacific and, this summer, to a prestigious U.S. Department of State scholarship.

This summer, Trevor will spend eight weeks in Taiwan as a recipient of the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), a highly competitive, fully funded program of the U.S. Department of State that provides immersive overseas language study for American undergraduate and graduate students. The CLS Program offers instruction in nine languages deemed critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity, and participants receive the equivalent of a full year of language instruction in just eight weeks through intensive coursework, cultural programming, and one-on-one time with native speaker language partners.

A Language That "Sunk Its Teeth In"

Studying Chinese in school wasn’t just an interesting elective; it was also the catalyst for Trevor’s first trip to Taiwan. "It kind of sunk its teeth into me and my interests," he said. "I've always wanted to go back."

That first trip came through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), the high school counterpart to the CLS Program, also administered through the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Trevor was selected for NSLI-Y in high school, studied Chinese in Taiwan, and has been chasing the language ever since through undergraduate coursework at Korbel, a junior-year study abroad in Taipei, and now the CLS Program.

"After NSLI-Y, they told us about future programs, different types of federal funding, grants, and language exchange programs. So CLS has kind of always been on my radar," he explained. He applied for CLS once during undergrad without much preparation ("I didn't really put much thought or effort in it, to be honest"), but this time around, he took a different approach.

The Application: Essays, Advisors, and Two Months of Red Pen

The CLS application consists of four essays. There are no interviews, no letters of recommendation, just the essays. That, Trevor said, is what makes the process both challenging and exciting.

"You have to be very to the T, and self-gloat, but not too much self-gloating," he said with a laugh. "Trying to balance that was crazy."

Trevor began the process by reaching out to Korbel's Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD), which then directed him to the Office of Scholar Development and Fellowship Advising. He worked closely with Dr. Savannah Pine over roughly two months, meeting weekly, turning in essays, and revising meticulously against the scholarship's stated criteria.

"It was a two-month process of just trying to get the essays on point," he shared. "I’m extremely grateful for the help I received."

Eight Weeks, One Language, One Goal

Trevor departs for Taiwan on June 17th and returns August 15th. He'll be living with a host family, a deliberate feature of the CLS Program that he is particularly excited about. "There's no other great way to get immersed than to live with a family," he said.

Beyond the language immersion, Trevor is looking forward to reconnecting with people he met during previous stays in Taiwan, including the host family he lived with during NSLI-Y in high school. He's also keenly interested in the geopolitical dimension of the trip: visiting Taiwan at a moment of considerable tension and seeing how the people who actually live there perceive the situation being discussed so intensely elsewhere.

"My main interest is media relations between the three [U.S., China, and Taiwan]," he said. "I'm hoping to get a better understanding of what it actually is like on the ground, and what people are actually thinking."

He's also mindful of the framing the CLS Program uses with its participants, that as an American abroad you are, in a sense, a citizen diplomat.

"Wherever you go as an American, you carry the badge of American on you," he said. "It'll be interesting to navigate those conversations and try to represent our country in a positive way."

Advice for Students Considering CLS

For fellow Korbel students who are curious about the CLS Program but uncertain about applying, Trevor's message is straightforward: try.

"It can't hurt to apply. I mean, I've applied twice," he said. "Work early and often with fellowship advisors at the Office of Scholar Development. Work with faculty and staff to try and hammer your essays out. If you want to travel and learn a language, there's no better scholarship to do that. It's funded, you get free flights, you get everything taken care of."

He emphasizes that the support available at Korbel is real and worth using. "There are people here who want to help you get the scholarship.”

And if it doesn't work out the first time? "There's always next year."