For most of humanity, fluency in one language is achievement enough—not for Martin Czech. He’s fluent in English and French, and while he also has a basic understanding of Japanese and ASL, he eventually dropped those languages to more fully focus on his primary passion: French.
Martin started learning French in an odd way. Sometime in 2020, when everyone else was managing their time and learning with mixed success, Martin watched what became a fateful video.
“I was just watching someone on YouTube playing a game. They played the same game . . . [to] a point that they don’t need to read the dialog. [They switched to] another language [for prompts]; for some reason they chose French that day. I was like, ‘you know what, I could probably learn French.’”
Odds are that Martin would not have guessed at that moment that five years later he would receive a Sterling Scholarship in World Languages. But what started as an offhand idea turned into a life-encompassing passion.
Receiving the Sterling Scholarship for World Languages was no accident. Martin immersed himself in the French language and culture. And during four years of French at Highland, he was able to learn more about the language with the constant support of the French teacher.
“A lot of the help has been with the . . . guidance of the French teacher, I honestly don’t think I would have gotten as far as I did without her,” he said.
Not all the intricacies of the French language could be learned in class. To supplement his ever-growing French vocabulary, he used such resources as Duolingo. No longer a chore, he spends 20-60 minutes every day dedicated to learning vocabulary to the point it has become entrenched as a daily habit. To deepen his understanding, he’s also read French books such as l’entranger (a French classic novella). He even switched the default language of some of the video games he plays to French for added exposure, seeing the language in different contexts.
Though French is likely his greatest passion, he has many other interests that helped shape his success. For instance, he loves music and taught himself to play guitar and piano. In fact, he asked Mr. Black if he had any music courses he could take and Mr. Black mentioned his jazz guitarist was graduating. So, with the same dedication he took to French, he took to Jazz Band like a duck to water.
“The way it happened for me was I got a little ahead on [music theory] the summer of sophomore year. I took [music] theory in junior year and at the end of it I asked Mr. Black, ‘Do you have any courses that I could go into for music?’ I didn’t want to learn a band instrument right then. He then offered me to join jazz band.”
This same uncompromising mentality of self-motivation is on full display in everything he does—a trait he attributes much of his success to.
“The dedication comes from within, [not] other people. I wanted . . . this scholarship. I wasn’t doing it for the gratification of other people,” he said.
This drive is instrumental in all he does, including in his efforts to be a Sterling Scholarship. The award, due to its prestige, makes it highly competitive. Winning this award speaks not only to his aptitude in world languages, but his character.
His dad wasn’t surprised by his success due to this same after mentioned character. The only question may have been which way his interests guided him. “Martin has been hard working and determined. Excels wherever he focuses his time and energy,” he said.
Surprisingly, the admirable trait of high-level motivation ended up putting somewhat of a roadblock in his process of applying for the Sterling Scholarship. Due to the competitive nature of the award, Sterling Scholar judges require minute details in the application process to sift through the many applicants. One application question pertained to leadership qualities. This is not to say Martin has not displayed such qualities, but according to him he hasn’t perhaps had as many opportunities as other applicants to show leadership.
“Some of us [applicants], we’re not SBOs. We’re not doing things that would count as overt leadership, so we have to find covert things like discussions in class,” he said.
Besides some challenges, Martin obviously won the award, garnering the accolades his mentality and ability deserves. The Sterling Scholarship is a testament to his character just as much as to his academic acumen. With his passion and aptitude for learning, Martin is a valuable member of the Highland community. And with his focus on World languages, his value extends to the world community.
