Ninth graders Jia Fleming, Marissa Shoag, and Catherine Sherman took part in the Concordia Language Camp for two weeks over the summer. The program included a Chinese  immersion and also forced them to turn in their cell phones, so they wouldn’t be compelled to speak in English with friends. Since 1961 the program has run Language Villages in the north woods of Minnesota to help improve students’ language skills and global awareness. The Mandarin immersion program is called Maplelag and requires all reading materials to be in Mandarin while students are residents. Both Shoag and Sherman have studied Chinese since elementary school at Yu Ying, and Fleming had started learning the language in middle school. Many upper schoolers take the opportunity to enrich their foreign language skills in Chinese, French, and Arabic through summer travel, field study, or immersion programs.