Grad Student Langston Aces U.N. Speech

For Melissa Langston, French Has Opened the Doors to the World

Written by Toni Salama

SIX MONTHS AGO, MELISSA LANGSTON was a Texas Tech teaching assistant working on her Master's in French. She still is, but now with a larger purpose. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly has a way of broadening one's horizon.

LANGSTON, AN AMARILLO NATIVE, was one of 70 students selected worldwide to make a presentation to the United Nations General Assembly on the U.N.'s Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. She traveled to New York to give her two-minute speech, in French, before the United Nations General Assembly on July 24. It was the highlight of the Many Languages, One World Global Youth Forum at Adelphi University July 20-26.

"MEETING PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER the world with similar goals was truly amazing," Langston said of the experience. "But we all have a different perspective on the problems and the solutions."

CAROLE EDWARDS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures, sponsored Langston for the essay contest and described Langston's U.N. project as innovative and one that offered a significant contribution to the development of women in West Africa.

IN FACT, LANGSTON'S UN PRESENTATION was much like the initiative that won her a prestigious DACOR Bacon House Foundation Fellowship in March: a program to create workshops where West African women would learn trades to become more economically independent.

LANGSTON BECAME INTERESTED in West Africa after taking a class in Caribbean and African literature at Texas Tech. Her essay was inspired by the success of a program in the East African nation of Ethiopia that taught women how to farm. "Now Ethiopia is more economically stable and achieving food security," she said. She'd like to be involved in launching similar success stories in West African nations.

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR the Many Languages, One World opportunity, students were required to submit a 2,000-word essay in one of the six official United Nations languages, which was not the student's first-language, or the principal language of instruction in their primary or secondary education.

LANGSTON, WHO PRIMARILY learned French at Texas Tech, was chosen from a pool of more than 1,200 entrants, based on her essay and subsequent Skype interview.

WITH THE U.N. SPEECH behind her, Langston's plans include pursuing a second Master's in International Relations & Politics. Suddenly, the world is a much bigger place, and Langston sees herself playing a bigger role in it.

"A YEAR AGO, six months ago, I couldn't even fathom that I would speak at the U.N. Tech has helped me so much in growing as a student and as an individual and provided me with countless opportunities," Langston said. "Without the support of my professors, I don't think I'd be where I am now."