Samuel Watson
Three University of Alabama students have received the Critical Language Scholarship to study overseas during summer 2021.
The Critical Language Scholarship, or CLS program, is part of a U.S. State Department effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. CLS scholars gain critical language and cultural skills that enable them to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.
Samuel Watson, a computer science major with a concentration in cybersecurity from Hazel Green, Alabama, will study Korean at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea. Watson, who is minoring in Korean, is also a recipient of the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and the Boren Scholarship, through which he spent seven months studying at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2017. In addition, he served as a college-level English instructor at Ansan University in Ansan, South Korea, in 2019, and is currently participating in a software engineering co-op at ADTRAN. Watson plans to further develop his Korean proficiency, and upon graduation from UA, he hopes to secure a cybersecurity position within the U.S. government.