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Bringing Languages Full Circle

Stefanie Senkow

NEW LONDON, Conn – May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the graduating class of 2022 had one of the highest number of Asian graduates. The Asian Pacific American Council (APAC) also hosted a creative event to help bilingual cadets preserve their languages.

The first language circle was held this past April. Each circle contained five cadets, with Chinese, Korean, Tagalog (Filipino), and Vietnamese teachers. The circles covered topics about each culture, shared culture specific snacks, and learned basic words/phrases in each language.

“How we came up with the idea was simple – a lot of first-generation Americans are bilingual, and we grow up speaking our parents’ native language at home. Usually, our parents and families are the only people that we speak these languages with, and when we leave home for college, we end up forgetting and losing a lot of it. Cadets here are no exception. We created language circles where cadets could connect with others that spoke the same language so they could reconnect with this extremely important aspect of their heritage,” said Third Class Cadet (3/c) Crystal Kim, APAC secretary.

Third Class Cadet James Schvaneveldt led the Japanese language circle and was thrilled to share the language and cultural influences. Born in Japan and returning again at age 5, Schvaneveldt was raised in the United States and learned Japanese fluently after high school during a two-year service mission.

“For the event we ended up going over basic sentence structure, some grammar principles about Japanese particles, and some common greetings and phrases,” said Schvaneveldt.

Schvaneveldt hopes to continue his study of Japanese and involvement in the language circles to one day apply it to his Coast Guard career out in the fleet.

“The language circle helped me connect to other cadets who speak Japanese and share the language with those wanting to learn it,” said Schvaneveldt.

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Sponsor Family Application

Thank you for submitting your application to be part of the Sponsor Family Program. Your application will be processed in the upcoming week. Coast Guard Academy’s policy on background screening now requires all adults (everyone 18 and older living in the home) who volunteer to mentor, teach, coach or sponsor cadets, whether on or off Coast Guard Academy grounds, to be screened every 5 years. They are required to provide personal information (name, birth date and social security number) for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check.

The Security Officer at the Coast Guard Academy, CWO2 Gina Polkowski, is overseeing this process. Her email is: Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.

Sponsor Family designations fall into several different categories. Below are the guidelines to help you determine how best to meet the background screening requirement:

If you are Coast Guard active duty you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are a Civilian working for the Coast Guard you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are non-Coast Guard Active Duty, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
If you are non-Coast Guard civilian who has a current security clearance or National Agency check, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
All civilians in the families who are 18 years or older and do not have a security clearance or a National Agency Check are required to be vetted through Mind Your Business, the third party vendor hired by the Coast Guard Academy for the vetting process.

After you complete your application, please e-mail the Sponsor Family Program Coordinator at CadetFamilySponsorProgram@uscga.edu. In your e-mail, you must include the e-mail address and phone number of every adult living in the home. The Sponsor Family Coordinator will then initiate the background check process and you will receive an email with further instructions.

Important things to note:

There is a Sponsor Family Training that is a one-hour training which we ask sponsors to attend once every four years. This training is designed to give you an overview of the program, what is expected of you as a sponsor, and what you can expect from your cadets. This training will also help familiarize you with the cadet regulations onboard CGA. You will be notified via e-mail once the training is scheduled.

The matching process of swabs to families will occur during July and August. Please bear with us and remain flexible through this process. There will be a meet and greet scheduled on Campus, typically in late August. This will give families an opportunity to formally meet their cadet if they have not already done so. Details on this will also be via email.