UW-Stout student Fox Haring was awarded a prestigious U.S. Department of State scholarship to study Mandarin Chinese this summer in the Critical Language Scholarship Program.
He was one of approximately 500 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students selected from more than 5,000 applicants.
Haring, a third-year psychology student, participated in the CLS Spark initiative, an eight-week immersive online program for undergraduates to learn one of five critical languages essential to America’s engagement with the world – Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian – facilitated by native speakers at CLS partner institutions abroad.
Haring’s group included four other students from across the U.S. Their lessons in Chinese improved their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and their cultural enrichment lessons included calligraphy, kung-fu, cooking and tea making.
“The small class size allowed us to engage in conversation that allowed both the students and the teacher to learn more about the other’s culture. The format allowed us to ask questions and learn more about their traditions,” he said.
Haring, of Milwaukee, has taken four years of Spanish and has studied several other languages on his own. He’s taking German this fall at UW-Stout.
“CLS Spark was the perfect opportunity to study a language that wasn’t offered at Stout and would be too difficult to study on my own. Learning a second language is one of the most important things a person can do. I find great joy and entertainment in learning new languages. I think it’s something everyone should have to do in school,” he said.
Psychologically, learning languages is good for the brain, increases neuron plasticity, and flexes cognitive muscles to prevent memory disorders like dementia, Haring explained.
“Learning another language allows people to gain a greater understanding of other cultures and use that knowledge to reflect on their own experiences. It enables a person to travel more freely, interact with more people and communicate in new ways,” he said.
Haring enjoyed the CLS program’s small class size – similarly why he chose UW-Stout – and being able to share information, ask questions and connect with his classmates.
The program’s Oral Proficiency Exam was a challenge, he thought. “It’s meant to test your understanding of the language, so the interviewer intentionally pushes you to your limit on understanding. If there weren’t any challenges, we’d never learn anything.”
Haring’s original interest in psychology was in clinical therapy, but he realized he was more interested in the social side of psychology.
“Currently, my goal is to work in either social work or administrative work, especially related to medical fields. I would also like to work outside of the United States in the future.”
Haring thinks a second language helps a person career-wise, “whether it’s relevant to the job or not. It allows you to work in places where English is not the primary language. Social work is a space where it’s especially helpful to be able to communicate in other languages, as a lot of the people accessing those services have limited English proficiency.”
As a CLS Spark participant, he will automatically be a semifinalist for the program’s 2025 overseas summer institutes in Taiwan, China or Singapore. He encourages anyone interested to apply for the program.
“Learning a language is an incredibly enriching experience that teaches you a lot of skills outside of the language itself, and college is the perfect time to do it,” he said. “There are a lot of opportunities if you look for them. I had no expectation that I would be accepted to the CLS Spark program and applied mostly on a whim, but I had an incredible experience that has led to many more opportunities and connections I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
Haring hopes to study abroad in Germany next spring and will graduate in summer 2026. He plans to either work in Minnesota or apply for graduate schools in Germany or Belgium.
UW-Stout students looking to study abroad may choose from more than 200 programs in more than 40 countries. Study abroad opportunities are a part of Stout Core, foundational general education classes at Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, giving students a global perspective, communication and critical thinking skills, ethical reasoning and more so they graduate ready to do more on day one.
A program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Critical Language Scholarship Program and CLS Spark are part of an initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages that are critical to national security and economic prosperity.
