Apple Valley Student Awarded Boren Scholarship At U Of M

APPLE VALLEY, MN— A student from Apple Valley was awarded the Boren Scholarship for his study of languages at the University of Minnesota.

Caleb Feltis, 22 and a senior at the university, is triple-majoring in French, linguistics, and computer science and minoring in both Chinese and Russian, the university said. Feltis has additionally studied biblical Greek, the university said.

Feltis told Patch that the Boren Scholarships are government funded and aim to produce Americans who are able to interact with people of other cultures.

The scholarship usually comes with one year of studying abroad, but this years winners will study domestically due to the pandemic, Feltis said.

One of two University of Minnesota students selected for the Boren Program, Feltis will spend his capstone year in the immersive Chinese program at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, the university said.

"I've been looking forward to it," Feltis told Patch. "I've been told that winters there are slightly better than they are in Minnesota. I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to improve my Chinese language skills and become more familiar with the culture."

Despite the program being domestic this year, Feltis said he and his coworker will work to only speak, read and listen to Chinese to fully immerse themselves in the language.

The scholarship also comes with an internship in the federal government, Feltis said.

Feltis told Patch that he became interested in languages after becoming interested in Lord of the Rings as a child.

"Tolkien himself was a linguist and it's been said that he wrote his books to 'house' his languages," Feltis said. "I became very interested in the languages he invented and tried learning them, which started a very long-held love for languages that I've decided to pursue in college and hopefully afterwards."