Senior earns trip to study Portuguese in Brazil as Liberty’s first Critical Language Scholarship recipient

Liberty University’s Department of Modern Languages is celebrating Jenna Keckler, a senior in the Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (TESL) as its first recipient of the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship, which will allow her to study Portuguese in Brazil’s cultural hub of Rio de Janeiro.

The native of Pittsburgh, Pa., said she has always had a passion for language, other cultures, and travel, making a career in teaching English abroad a perfect fit for her.

“I love to learn language, and I love to learn about culture, so it’s a perfect synthesis of all of the things that excite me,” Keckler said. “I think that in studying different cultures we get to see different aspects of God reflected. It’s something that God has really put on my heart; it’s the one thing that I can devote hours to and not tire of.”

Having studied Spanish for six years and developed a proficiency in it, Keckler chose to study Portuguese given the similarities and common roots between the two languages.

“My advanced level of Spanish, combined with my advanced linguistics classes I’ve taken (at Liberty), have helped me understand how language is acquired. I decided to apply for Portuguese hoping that my base in Spanish would allow me to make more language gains during the two months in the program than if I had picked a language (less related) to what I already know.”

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an immersive summer opportunity for students to learn languages essential to America’s engagement with the world. This year’s finalists were selected from a diverse pool of over 5,000 applicants from 245 higher education institutions across the United States.

To apply for the scholarship, Keckler wrote a series of essays about her interest in learning Portuguese, future career aspirations, and examples of resilience.

Keckler will spend eight-10 weeks studying Portuguese at a university, practicing with language partners and participating in cultural opportunities, such as dancing or cooking, to help her learn more about Brazilian culture.

“I’m very excited that the program is in Rio specifically,” Keckler said. “Rio is very much the cultural center of the country, so I’m very excited to learn about the culture there and also compare it to the rest of Latin America.”

“We are so proud of Jenna and all that she has accomplished,” said Stephanie Blankenship, associate dean of the College of Arts & Science and director of Liberty’s TESL master’s program. “She is representing Liberty and the TESL (undergraduate) program well, and we can’t wait to see how she continues to grow her linguistic skills during this well-deserved opportunity.”

Keckler is currently a semifinalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, with the possibility of traveling to Panama and working as an English teaching assistant if she is awarded the grant. She hopes to create opportunities to learn more about Panama’s culture and share American culture in return. She is also considering teaching abroad, pursuing a master’s degree in her field, or attending law school.