A6 The BulleTin • Friday, May 21, 2021
Taiwan
Continued from A1
The U.S. State Department
awarded Wallace a scholar-
ship to spend her first year of
college studying Mandarin in
Taiwan, with tuition, housing
and airfare all covered. She’s
thrilled to get the opportunity
to master the language that has
become her passion.
“I love speaking foreign
languages. It’s one of the only
things I know I love,” said Wal-
lace, 18. “Why not pursue it
even further?”
Wallace’s scholarship to
Tamkang University in New
Taipei City — Taiwan’s largest
city — is being paid for by the
National Security Language
Initiative for Youth program.
The initiative’s goal is to
teach young Americans,
through immersion, languages
that are crucial to global diplo-
macy. Many of these languages,
such as Arabic, Russian and
Turkish, are less commonly
found in high schools.
“(Mandarin) is critical be-
cause of the relationship be-
tween China and the U.S.,” said
Hotel
Continued from A1
Eagan said the city is likely
no longer in the queue for the
original $35 million, which
has to be spent by the end of
June. The city hopes to con-
tinue evaluating the Bend
Value Inn and that more Proj-
ect Turnkey money will be
allocated by the state Legisla-
ture to pay for the project.
Loeb said having more
money coming to Project
Turnkey is a “hopeful aspira-
tion.”
“It isn’t a guarantee, but we
have communicated mem-
bers of the Legislature that
we do have more qualified
applicants and that a num-
ber of them are substantially
through due diligence,” she
said.
The project won’t die if
the city isn’t allocated state
money, Eagan said. The city
can use federal funding from
Submitted photo
Rachel Wallace visits the Great Wall of China in 2019.
Lin Hong, associate professor
of Chinese language and cul-
ture at Central Oregon Com-
munity College. “No matter if
the relationship is combative
or friends, it’s going to offer
a lot of job opportunities for
the young generation if they’re
interested in international af-
fairs.”
the American Rescue Plan,
which has been given to cities
and counties for COVID-19
relief, or money from the
city’s general fund.
Eagan said she believes the
city made the right decision
by not moving forward with
the original hotel, even if it
does mean the city doesn’t re-
ceive the grant money.
The city took more time to
conduct due diligence, which
means inspecting the site to
make sure it is suitable, so the
city could be realistic about
the cost of renovations.
Eagan said she wonders
whether other cities that
moved more quickly will
likely find similar structural
issues like Bend did but just
after the sale.
“We knew more about our
property going in then other
communities likely are,” Ea-
gan said.
On Wednesday, the Bend
City Council voted unan-
Bend-La Pine Schools cur-
rently does not have a full-time
Mandarin program, although
in the past, Mandarin teachers
would temporarily visit from
China, said district spokesper-
son Alandra Johnson. How-
ever, the new Caldera High
School is planning to offer a
permanent Mandarin program
when it opens this fall, she said.
Bend-La Pine has also of-
fered dual-credit Mandarin
courses with Central Oregon
Community College, which is
the class Wallace took at Sum-
mit High School.
This school year, Wallace
has been enrolled in the Baker
Early College public charter
program, and takes all her
classes through COCC — in-
cluding Hong’s Chinese lan-
guage and culture class.
She credits Hong with in-
spiring her to pursue an inter-
est in Mandarin.
“I can honestly say she’s
changed my life and helped
me become the person I am
today,” Wallace said of Hong.
“Whoever has her is really, re-
ally lucky.”
Wallace’s year of study in
Taiwan will help her master
Mandarin more quickly than
if she continued to take Man-
darin classes in the U.S., Hong
said.
In particular, learning the
language is tricky in Bend,
where there isn’t much of a
Chinese population, she said.
“Other cities, similar sizes as
Bend, they usually have more
opportunities to learn Chinese
or other critical languages,”
Hong said.
More than 12% of Hillsboro
and Beaverton’s population
identify as Asian, compared to
only 1.8% for Bend, according
to U.S. Census estimates. The
U.S. Census does not distin-
guish what percentage of those
Asian-identifying residents
are Mandarin speakers, but
both Hillsboro and Beaverton
also have significantly higher
percentages of residents who
speak a language other than
English at home.
Wallace said she hopes to
eventually earn a degree in
Mandarin, and then either
work in the travel industry or
for the U.S. government in East
Asia.
“A state department job
would be really awesome,” she
said.
Although Wallace has never
visited Taiwan, she did get an
opportunity to visit a Manda-
rin-speaking country during a
two-week trip to China in the
summer of 2019.
Still, Taiwan will be a bit of
an adjustment, Wallace noted.
“Taiwanese people speak
Mandarin, but it’s a little differ-
ent than the mainland (China)
Mandarin,” she said. “They
have different words, and a
different accent … that will be
something to dive into.”
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7854,
jhogan@bendbulletin.com
imously to negotiate a sale
price with the owners of the
Bend Value Inn on Division
Street. The council also voted
to end a purchase and sale
agreement with the Rain-
bow Motel on Franklin Ave-
nue, mostly because it would
be more expensive to buy in
comparison with the Bend
Value Inn, which a purchase
and sale agreement prices at
no more than $2.5 million,
Eagan said.
The city continues to have
interest in the Rainbow Motel
property, however.
“We remain committed to
increasing options for tempo-
rary, transitional, and work-
force housing in Bend, in-
cluding through public and
private partnerships in the
Bend Central District,” Coun-
cilor Gena Goodman-Camp-
bell read in a motion on
Wednesday.
e e
Reporter: 541-633-2160,
bvisser@bendbulletin.com
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
The Bend Value Inn is at 2346 NE Division St. in Bend.