Warmest congratulations to the four Lithuanian philology students of Vilnius University’s Faculty of Philology – Meda Petraškaitė, Tatjana Rodenko, Ieva Staugaitė, and Goda Simaitytė – who have been awarded the Jurgis Mileris Scholarships established by the “Tautos fondas” (Lithuanian National Foundation 'Tautos Fondas' ) based in New York.
The Foundation’s representative in Lithuania, Audronė Kizienė, congratulated the scholarship recipients, expressing her hope that this encouragement will provide additional motivation to pursue new goals in fostering the Lithuanian language.
Lithuanian philology students Ieva Staugaitė and Meda Petraškaitė shared how the scholarships will personally benefit them.
“I, like many other students, not only study but also work, so this scholarship will be a great help, allowing me to dedicate more time to my studies. I will be able to take unpaid leave and focus on writing my bachelor’s thesis. I am delving into linguistics – I am particularly interested in Lithuanian morphology. In my thesis, I also discuss the issue of Lithuanian parts of speech, which remains underexplored. I hope my work will be useful and interesting to a broader audience,” said Ieva Staugaitė.
“I have chosen the path of teaching – I have been pursuing it purposefully since high school. At present, I am doing my teaching practice at a school and also teach Lithuanian individually. Since much of my time is devoted not only to studies and lessons but also to various volunteer activities, this scholarship will allow me to offer free Lithuanian lessons to those who truly need them but cannot afford to pay. This scholarship is a great incentive to continue working for the benefit of others,” said Meda Petraškaitė.
“Tautos fondas,” founded in 1941 in Lithuania and operating in New York since 1955, is supported by private donations aimed at benefiting Lithuania. Jurgis Mileris, whose name the scholarship bears, was a devoted Lithuanian language teacher. After his passing, his son contributed to the fund to continue his father’s mission of supporting young Lithuanian language enthusiasts and encouraging their dedication to their native tongue.