Mixed emotions came with deferring his senior year at Christ School, less so after three immersive months in Morocco.
Cole Lewis '26 has about six months left on his scholarship to North Africa, studying abroad through the U.S. State Department’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program.
Living with a host family, Cole’s daily experience includes learning more about Moroccan culture and traditions, from the food to visiting sites like museums, the largest mosque in the country (the Hassan II Mosque in the city of Casablanca), and weekly markets.
Cole stays connected to friends back home through all the usual methods, but also stays busy. The fifth-year senior and Day Student Proctor plans to finish high school as a Greenie for the 2025-26 academic year.
The NSLI-Y was launched in 2006 by former President George W. Bush with the goals of strengthening national security and expanding intercultural dialogue. Cole went through a highly-competitive application process and had previously been part of a smaller NSLI-Y summer program in Morocco.