They are two male and two female students, from the cities of Praia and Assomada, and have completed their second academic year at Uni-CV. They were chosen because they have shown exemplary academic performances and good behavior. (In the photo below are Admilson Almeida, Evena Gonçalves, and Braúlio de Pina, with their English teacher, U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer Robert Sarwark; not shown is Eveline Semedo, of São Pedro, Praia).

They leave this week for the United States of America, where they will attend one semester at Bridgewater State College (BSC) near Boston, Massachusetts, and all have promised to take full advantage of this opportunity to increase their ability to speak English fluently.

According to Braúlio de Pina, from the Praia district of Lém Cachorro and the second best student in his class, "This is a great opportunity, to go to an English-speaking country, and to increase our capacity, experience, and knowledge in the language." Over the next four months, they will also contribute to strengthening the ties of friendship between Bridgewater State College and Uni-CV, which aims in particular at training both students and teachers.

They also all have hopes of bringing back with them more experience and more skills, which they plan to share with their classmates and future colleagues.

Evena Gonçalves, of Assomada, believes that this trip was not only determined by grades, but also by the assessment of her work as a whole, which was sent to the US for final approval. She describes the initiative of this program with BSC as "really great" and looks forward to the chance for an exchange with not only students from other countries, with whom they will live for the next four months, but also with United States natives.

The improvement of their English, especially speaking skills, will be their main concern, and they have also expressed interest in further studies, including completing a masters degree in English. Admilson Almeida, also from Assomada, is leaving with the hopes of bringing back an additional, diplomatic value from this trip; he sought to be chosen for this opportunity in part because he believes he is prepared to represent the nation of Cape Verde well. And he finds it "very important" that this cooperation between Uni-CV and BSC has been forged, because it gives young Cape Verdean English language students the opportunity to improve their English in the USA. He also finds, therefore, that afterwards he will be better able to return and continue his studies in Cape Verde and then teach English.

At the master's level in English Studies, three students have left for the U.S. today, where, also at Bridgewater State College, they will study for one academic year and prepare for their diploma theses.