University of Illinois seniors Jason Ho and Gabriel Wacks are among 221 nationwide recipients of David L. Boren Scholarships awarded by the National Security Education Program. The program enables undergraduate students to add important international and language components to their educations by studying overseas in world regions critical to U.S. interests throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Ho, of Naperville, Illinois, and a graduate of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, has received $19,800 to fully fund his study of Mandarin for nine months at National Taiwan University. Ho is seeking dual degrees in finance and in information systems and information technology from the Gies College of Business at Illinois. He previously spent a semester studying and working as a research assistant at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and last summer worked as a management intern for the U.S. Department of State in Taiwan. At Illinois, Ho served as an executive manager for Illinois Enactus, a project-based social entrepreneurship organization, where he led 15 students to achieve best practices in project management, entrepreneurship and project execution for local businesses, schools and nonprofits. Long-term, Ho aims to pursue a career as a management foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State.

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