August 2, 2011

50 Chicago-area high school students studying Chinese met at DePaul on July 27  through STARTALK, a federally funded language immersion program designed to help build proficiency in underrepresented foreign languages that are increasingly important for the nation’s global competitiveness.

Coordinated by Yvonne Lau, professor of modern languages at DePaul, STARTALK completed its fifth year with a ceremony and performance attended by friends and family members of the program participants and Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president. The program featured more than a dozen performances by a diverse array of students studying Chinese at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels, including a musical ode to the STARTALK program itself.