Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for north central Minnesota.

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Hello again friends, I'm Jason Eden's your host of Lakeland Currents.

Thanks for joining the conversation today and thanks for your ongoing support of Lakeland Public Tv.

The Concordia Language Villages are an institution here in our region since 1961.

The Concordia Language Villages have been inspiring courageous global citizens and they've recently hired a new executive director.

It's my privilege to welcome Mary Mouse Kosher, the new executive director of the Concordia Language Village.

Mary thanks for making time for the conversation today.

Mary: It's great to be here Jason, thanks for asking.

Jason: Absolutely, so first of all I understand this is a bit of a homecoming for you.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Mary: it is.

I grew up in Bemidji so the Concordia Language Villages were in my backyard.

And you know I'm a 1985 Lumberjack grad of Bemidji High School so it is kind of like coming home again.

I was really excited to be offered this opportunity and privilege really to lead such an amazing organization.

And I've been on board now just over four months so it's really just been amazing.

Jason: Fantastic, well I know there aren't many people who haven't heard of the Concordia Language Villages.

But just pretend that I haven't and tell me a little bit about them?

Give me the big picture.

Mary: Well the big picture really is and you mentioned it in your opening.

The mission of the villages is really to inspire courageous global citizens.

And whether you're 8 years old or you're 85 years old we really work to expose you know the general public to the beauty of languages.

The beauty of culture and we're fortunate enough to have just about 900 acres right outside of Bemidji.

And on Turtle River Lake that is an amazing backdrop to really immerse oneself in what we call the CLV way.

So the Concordia Language Village way and what that really means is simply kind of learning language in four ways.

First of all a grand simulation.

So really once you enter the villages you are immersed and become citizens.

It's a very intentional experience whether you're learning German at Vault say or French at La DuBois.

Each of the villages has its own persona and you really are immersed into that right away.

So that's that's one piece of it and also community-based learning.

So in everything that we do it's really about building that community between staff with our villagers, villager families.

So that's another really big piece of who we are as an organization, in addition it's about lived language and culture.

So it's about learning by doing so, whether we're cooking in the kitchen and learning how to make an authentic dish, to playing a game of soccer all of that's going to be in language.

And so it's really not about just in the classroom or outside the classroom it's 24/7.

Really to get you thinking, breathing and imagining what might be possible in a new language.

And finally it's about outdoor learning.

I mean we really want to take advantage of our backdrop in beautiful Bemidji area and up on Turtle River Lake.

It is simply, if you haven't been there outstanding and really stunning backdrop no matter the season, and so we embrace that setting.

And we really do learner center activities taking advantage of that amazing outdoor space.

You know whether you're there for a week, a few days, four weeks, a weekend.

There's a way to really kind of fit that all in and weave that into your experience.

Jason: Well there's so many things that you've just shared with me that I'd love to follow up on.

The first of which is did I hear you say ages 8 to 85?

So this isn't just for you, is that correct?

Mary: You know absolutely not.

And sometimes that is a misunderstanding.

Some people think about the Concordia Language Villages and they only think about you know the amazing summer camp summer village opportunities.

And while our summer programs are primarily youth focused, we have programs happening round you know year round at the Concordia Language Villages.

And what's amazing we have family weekends, we have special adult programs and because of the pandemic in the last year we've actually introduced virtual programs and virtual villages actually as well.

And what we really have seen is that adults are loving this opportunity to sort of zoom in from wherever they might be in the country or even internationally.

And learn how to you know talk about French cooking in French.

And kind of revisit what they're doing in their history with maybe learning a language.

Jason: You know one of the things that I found interesting as I was doing some research in preparation for our conversation Mary, is that you expect everyone to check their devices at the door, there are no phones or tablets allowed is that correct?

Especially for your villagers?

Mary: That's correct, that's correct for especially during our summer programs we really like it to be device free.

Now this summer might be a little bit different in that space given the pandemic and some checking in with parents that we'll be doing.

But that will be again that won't be very frequent.

But we just want to make sure that parents have parents and students have an opportunity to connect, just to ensure their safety and that they're healthy and having a good time.

Jason: Sure, well I know that the Concordia Language Villages have had a profound impact on thousands and thousands of people, I'm curious were you a villager or a counselor?

Mary: So, very good question I wish I would have been a villager myself.

Of course I grew up knowing about it but I didn't take advantage of it.

There wasn't really a history of that in my family, even though I went on to do international work.

And so to be honest one of my goals for the organization is to make sure that we are really, you know the folks in the Bemidji area who have such a long-standing partnership really with the villages.

We have so many donors and supporters in the community I just I want to make sure understanding the fact that I missed out on something that is truly amazing.

Not that it's too late because I am going to be doing a camp here in the not-too-distant future, so that I can experience it as an adult.

I did have my daughter attend German Vault say when she was a little bit younger.

So brought it into the family but was not a villager myself and hopefully we can make that experience available to more and more of the local community in Bemidji.

Jason: I learned from the Washington Post that 50 of the world's population speak at least two languages.

Yet here in the united states it's only about one in five people that have a second language.

Tell me a little bit about the value of learning or having a second or third language?

Mary: You know I really think it's about bridging, bridging cultural understanding and I really feel like given kind of where we are as a world today politically.

I think what it does is it is it brings cultures, it brings people together, it brings understanding across borders.

It really builds community that I think we need now more than ever.

It doesn't necessarily matter what you believe in politically.

But you know learning another language, understanding another culture being more of a global citizen.

I think what it can do is break down barriers and allow conversations to take place in ways that maybe you know, as we grow and progress whether it's through education and in our professional careers, as we have children ourselves and families.

It's just, it's a way to bridge gaps that exist in a profound way I think across.

Not just here in the united states but across the world.

And so we're making hopefully a small dent in creating more cultural understanding and really educating especially our youth but people of all ages.

Exposing them to what it means to really be a global citizen.

Jason: I'm curious Mary, what international experiences do you bring to the Concordia Language Villages?

Mary: Well I have one language, I actually have people on my staff who speak you know 5-10 some even more than 10 languages.

So I am not the cultural expert but I did have a undergraduate major in English and German after I graduated from college.

I was fortunate enough to receive a Fulbright scholarship and spent a year in Vienna, studied abroad in Salzburg, as an undergraduate student.

And then again a little bit later in my career was Bausch fellow and spent another year in Germany.

So did some academic and more formalized work overseas.

But also spent about you know the first 10 or so years of my professional career at the university of Minnesota's Carlson school of management.

Where I did help actually to build international programs and offshore executive MBA degree programs.

Jason: Mary, I always like to source one or two questions from a constituent or a member of the community of the person that I have the opportunity to visit with.

So I have a couple questions here for you from some past villagers and counselors.

One of which is, when can we look forward to the next International Day?

And for those who don't know tell us a little bit about International Day?

Mary: Well international day and to be honest I have yet to experience one myself in its full glory.

So International Day happens every summer and it's really the coming together of all of Concordia Language Villages, 14 villages usually there are speakers, there are dances, there are songs in each of the languages that the villages represent.

It's really a celebration of all the villages, of all the cultures, of all the languages and coming together.

To really just celebrate that Concordia Language Village way in what from the pictures I've seen and from the videos I've experienced is a true colorful celebration of dance, music and pure joy.

So while this coming summer it remains challenging and it's simply our goal at Concordia Language Villages to open up the residential experience once again.

But that being said we are in the midst of planning for a more virtual internet international day.

And so there will be pop-up experiences that will be virtually delivered from villages from one village to another village.

That parents will be able to zoom in and and experience with their children.

And it will not be or culminate with one single day but it will be a series of events over the summer.

Where we'll be celebrating what is actually you know our 60 years of existence as the Concordia Language Villages as well.

So hopefully in summer 22 it will be more of a residential experience but this summer we don't want to ignore it, we want to you know we'll bring some virtual life to I Day.

Jason: So this summer it sounds like it'll be mostly virtual but possibly in 2022 it'll be back to the full board?

Mary: Yeah, with regard to the to International Day, that's correct.

We will be having villagers on site this summer however.

Jason: Okay that was my next question.

So tell us more about your plan for this summer, in particular and I'm interested to know how you're going to keep the villagers safe?

Mary: Right, well it's been a, you know it's an evolving story as you can imagine and the protocols continue to evolve as well, as vaccine distribution grows in our community and nationally as well.

So right now what we've taken a relatively conservative approach I would say to opening our residential programs.

In a normal year students would have an array of options from one week, two week, three week and four-week options.

Along with day camps.

You know we made the strategic decision several months ago to mitigate as much risk as possible to really focus on the longer duration programs.

And so we'll be offering four-week villager programs across all of our villages.

And what that means is and we'll also be operating at about 50 capacity.

So that in the cabin area where students are sleeping at night.

You know there's sufficient space between campers beds to allow for some of what you know six feet of distance.

And kind of some some safety mechanisms that we've got in place.

So we will have that taking place, the students will you know there won't be a lot of opportunity to engage, students will come in pods, they'll stay in pods with their staff members.

We'll be requiring students to come up to, come on site with proof of a test from the last week or so.

We'll be testing students again once they return on site and then we'll be testing throughout their duration with us for those four weeks.

The good news is that since we will be sort of potting and keeping our villagers in small groups after the first couple of weeks and continued negative coveted tests.

I don't want to say it will be completely relaxed but there will be a little bit more ebb and flow if we're able to really keep keep everybody safe for the full two weeks that they're there initially.

So we've got a lot of protocols in place and we're sort of taking what I think we're calling the swiss cheese model.

Where we'll be doing physical distancing, we'll be utilizing the outdoors as much as possible and we'll also be masking.

So with those three mechanisms in place on a regular basis we should be able to to operate.

Jason: So if you're at reduced capacity this summer how is it more difficult to select those villagers that will be on site or how does that affect your selection process?

Mary: Well it's first come for serve.

Registration is open right now.

We do have villages that are already full and we have waiting lists.

So you know I would encourage folks, our website is always up to date and you can see what villages still have capacity and what don't.

The great news is that there are virtual options for all of our villages, so while that's not ideal for some, they really want to have that residential experience.

You know if somebody really needs you know a continuation of a program that maybe they started in Korean.

They should be able to you know complete that through a virtual village.

So, we're also watching the evolving nature of what's transpiring with with regard to Covid.

And right now according to national or the camp standards that are set kind of and the Minnesota department of health in conjunction.

There are certain recommendations in place, that there's a lot of discussion right now.

I think they're recommending that our cabins be at 50 capacity, that may loosen in the next month or so depending on what we continue to see in terms of the numbers.

And you know right now there's some cautious optimism that maybe will be able to expand not fully.

But in those cabins add another one to two beds.

So there may be additional capacity as we sort of kind of cautiously approach the next four to eight weeks.

But right now our website is kind of the best teller in terms of where there is space available.

Clearly there's a lot of disappointed villagers you know not everybody wants to come for a four week program that might be a little long.

Especially for our younger villagers so, we're hoping to have a more robust program again in summer 22.

Jason: So speaking of the four-week immersion experience, the residential experience.

I noticed on your website that that's just this side of five thousand dollars, do you think that's affordable?

Mary: I think it's a challenge for many and most families.

We have quite a bit of scholarship support available.

We also work closely with, in fact I was I testified this week at the legislature with the office of higher education for funding to allow for summer enrichment program support.

Of which we've been the beneficiaries of thousand dollar stipend for our students.

So we have a number of very passionate donors that provide scholarship support.

We have support through the office of higher ED for summer enrichment grants that we can give to our students.

But there is no question that it's a sizeable investment and it does require some planning.

But we're continuing to raise money and work with our donors to continue to increase the amount of scholarship dollars available.

It's definitely a priority of mine to continue to work on that because I know that that price tag is really it's a limiter for a lot of families.

One of the reasons why as we were putting our virtual villages together and we were thinking about access, we've really I think priced our one-week virtual programs now are at a $395 price tag.

Which hopefully you know we have a lot of funding opportunities and mechanisms for that.

So that families also before they invest a significant amount of money could sample kind of what's available for a virtual week.

Hopefully at a more affordable price tag before they invest in something like you know a four-week program, which is considerable.

Jason: One of the small details that I've personally always wondered about is, why it's the Concordia Language Villages is there a relationship with Concordia College in Moorhead or what's the origin story of Concordia?

Mary: Yes, exactly that's correct and I wasn't even aware of the actual history.

But Concordia Language Villages was actually founded by a gentleman named Dr. Gerhard Huckabee.

Who worked at Concordia College and then founded the villages back in 1965.

And so since that point in time and in 1965 that's actually when Concordia Language Villages with Concordia College actually as the signature.

Established their presence in the Bemidji area with the purchase of land.

And so it dates way back to the mid-60s when some faculty from Concordia College were given permission to really sort of explore and innovate around this idea of simulation.

In immersive experiences to learn language and culture.

So to this day Concordia Language Villages is a program and operated under the umbrella of Concordia College Moorhead.

Jason: And who does pay for the Concordia language villages?

Is it simply funded through the revenue that you generate from your villagers?

Or are there other streams that help support the work that you do at CLV?

Mary: Well at CLV, one of the things I know that the program has worked to do over the last several years and and one of my goals as we continue to grow and evolve.

Is to really diversify our portfolio of work.

We have our summer program so we do rely heavily on revenue from those programs.

We have a number of federally grant funded programs, where we actually do quite a bit of significant training in languages for military.

And so we have a variety of folks coming from around the country to do intensive language and immersive training from various parts of the military.

We also have a number of other types of programs during the academic year.

So we have weekends, we have family events and we have adult programs.

So all of that we also work closely with a number of school districts.

And so we will bring you know in non-pandemic times you know we'll be working with a number of schools across the state and the region.

And really expose them in you know large quantities to you know Spanish programs for you know a high school here in the twin cities, or you know a high school in Brainerd area.

So we work closely with the schools as well.

And all of those things collectively pay for the villages.

Jason: Sure and are the Concordia Language Villages a non-profit if they're part of Concordia College?

Mary: Yeah, we again because we are under the Concordia College Umbrella we are not our own nonprofit but we fall we fall right underneath the Concordia College Warhead non-profit status.

Jason: Well I want to take a couple minutes here and talk a little bit about the languages that you offer.

It's my understanding that you offer 15 different languages through your various programs?

Is that correct?

Mary: That's correct.

I think when you say 15 though that might be counting English.

So kind of our summer programs are technically 14.

Jason: I see, so of those 14 languages, two of them are Norwegian and Danish, each of which globally has about five and a half million speakers.

Swahili however has nearly 20 million speakers.

So I'm curious how do you select the languages that you offer and why are there no sub-Saharan African languages?

Mary: That's a great question and I have some of that history, I know I'm still a little wet behind the ears in terms of my tenure with the role.

But you know again historically when we look back to the roots of this region in Minnesota.

A lot of Scandinavian folks really founded and were part of the development of the area.

And so Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian have a foothold and a presence at the villages.

It definitely started out I would say as a very Eurocentric sort of language village and in the last decade has started to evolve beyond that.

We have a significant Spanish village, we now offer Chinese, we offer Japanese, we have a new Korean village that is actually in the process of being built.

We'll be completing phase one of that up on Turtle River Lake in April and it is stunning.

And Korean is one of our fastest growing languages.

So we have really evolved and added languages as opportunities and connections and funding have presented themselves to us.

But you bring up a good point, I believe that there are a number of us, that you know to be honest also when you think about our tribal neighbors in the Bemidji area.

There's opportunity for partnership and for teaching of languages well beyond what we currently offer.

And I would like to see us continue to evolve and really truly become, you know global citizen means a lot of things to a lot of different people.

And we have amazing tribal neighbors and it's important to acknowledge not only the land that we are sitting on in the Bemidji area but also to work and to partner and to creatively see if there are ways that we can we can assist in an authentic way that might be needed.

And so those are the kinds of things that I really want to explore further as we sort of grow and develop as an organization.

Jason: Well I was going to ask you about Ojibwa.

So I'm glad you mentioned that.

But let me ask you about your vision going forward for the future.

How do you intend to expand the reach and the relevancy of the Concordia Language Villages today?

Mary: Well one of the things I think we found again making lemonade out of lemons.

In this past year it's been a difficult year for us as an organization.

Not unlike many thousands of organizations across the country and in the region.

So we've been pretty hard hit so my goal for the current year really is to stabilize our programs.

It's been a tough year because we in 2020 had no residential programs.

We pivoted very last minute to virtual villages but we found something there.

When we pivoted to virtual villages and so right now we're sort of taking stock of of the program offerings that we have.

Looking at what makes sense for us as an organization to maintain.

And then really trying I think to diversify our portfolio as we move forward.

One of the things I think that we found through the pandemic is that we're a little bit overly reliant on revenue from our summer programs.

So, how can we really build more robust programs year-round that will sustain us as an organization but also allow us to develop in.

You know what we were just talking about maybe some less commonly taught languages.

But also some languages that in fact are very popular, that are just not commonly thought of.

And so you know how do we think about that in a strategic way but also a way that will allow us to sustain ourselves.

I'm not gonna be naïïve to think that we have the funding and the means to really move forward with in any area that we would like.

But with enough thought and intention behind it you know there's a lot we can do.

Jason: So Mary, I want to close with a question about you and your motivations.

I'm sure that a former Fulbright scholar has a wide variety of options, so why is it the Concordia Language Villages excites you?

And tell me a little bit about your own personal motivations for being a part of the Concordia Language Villages?

Mary: Well I happen to be at a point in life you know where my children are mostly grown, not that they're not living at home right now given what's going on in the world.

But I was at a point where I could be a little bit more intentional about where I am professionally.

When this opportunity was was brought to me, I thought wow what an amazing way to build not only on my, you know I'm actually kind of an entrepreneur at heart.

I also started a small business you know spent 20 years working at the business school at the university of Minnesota.

But have this really innate passion to really build those bridges and around global citizens and inspiration.

And so this was a very interesting opportunity for me personally and professionally.

To sort of come back home spend more time up in the Bemidji area, which is so near and dear to my heart.

My mom still lives in Bemidji and so getting to spend additional time with her and reconnecting with that community.

Which you know we have benefited from for 60 years at the villages.

And I think having that connection you know for me the executive director is really an important one.

And I really want to continue to build those bridges out into the Bemidji community.

So for me while I actually live in the twin cities area I'll be pretty fluid between St. Paul and Bemidji for now.

We'll see how it all goes but this is the perfect blending of what I feel like I've spent much of my professional career preparing for.

Jason: Well Mary thank you so much for your time today.

It's been a pleasure.

I really appreciate it.

Mary: Thanks for having me Jason, this was a fun conversation.

Jason: And thank all of you for joining me.

Once again I'm Jason Eden's your host of Lakeland Currents.

Be kind and be well.

We'll see you next week.