Melanie Valliciergo '20 Shares Italian Enrichment Experience

Melanie Valliciergo '20 traveled to study in Rome this summer for three weeks on the EduItalia Scholarship which she earned based on her work in Italian at the Academy.  She now attends Northeastern University.

 

“Thanks to the Mount’s Italian program, I was able to apply and win the IACE (Italian Association Committee on Education) summer scholarship program to study in Narni during my sophomore year at the Mount, and now I am beyond blessed to have won the EduItalia Scholarship following the AP Exam last spring,” said Melanie. “I have had the greatest opportunity to study Italian in Rome at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci and it has been incredible. I have been travelling throughout the city and meeting people from all over the world who share the same passion and love of Italian as me – all while achieving a higher level of proficiency in the language.”

 

Melanie took classes at the intermediate advanced level throughout the day with the opportunity to explore the city where she put those skills to the test in a unique immersion experience.

 

“The Italian program at Mount Saint Mary Academy instilled in me a passion for language and culture and has allowed me to excel in learning Italian,” she continued. “I am especially thankful to Mrs. Teresa Sengel (World Languages Department Chairperson and Italian teacher) for being the one to insist that I take Italian when I was just an incoming freshman. She has been an incredible mentor for me to achieve all I have today. I am so grateful for the amazing foreign language program at the Mount that places an emphasis on the importance of language and understanding other cultures. It is something I am truly passionate about, and I was not only able to learn in the classroom, but was given various opportunities to go beyond that.