MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) will open in six months with the help of a $100,000 grant from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation.
The grant will provide financial aid based on need for qualified middle school and high school students to attend a four-week foreign-language immersion program this summer at MMLA’s locations in Atherton, Calif., and Colchester, Vt.
The Lowenstein grant also will establish a “lending library” of technology tools—laptop computers, iPods, software, etc.—to complement language learning for MMLA students.
Middlebury College and its affiliate, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, will launch the language academy on June 28 for students entering grades 7 through 12. Described as “a micro-environment that blends language immersion and cultural experiences with the fun of summer camp,” MMLA will offer Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish during its inaugural summer. In addition to the Vermont and California sites, the academy also will be offered in Amherst, Mass., in partnership with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth.
The Leon Lowenstein Foundation, based in New York, supports educational and health care initiatives for organizations such as the American Heart Association, California Charter Schools, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Thompson Island Outward Bound Education, and the United Negro College Fund.
“The generosity of the Lowenstein Foundation will help us offer a unique language immersion experience to young learners who, without financial aid, could not attend the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy,” said David Toomey, MMLA’s director of pre-college programs. “We look forward to this grant being matched by others with a similar commitment to global education.”
The funding from the Lowenstein Foundation was the first grant received by the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy. A portion of the grant is contingent upon the receipt of matching funds by June 30, 2008.
For more information about the language academy, visit www.mmla.middlebury.edu or e-mail mmla.info@middlebury.edu.