Charlie Kost was a kindergarten student at a Catholic school in Chicago when he began learning French.
“French is just a language that I kind of started learning by chance,” Kost said. “But then I’ve fallen in love with it and it’s been amazing ever since.”
That love for the French language has led Kost across the world. While attending high school in Nashville, Tenn., he participated in an immersion program at a summer camp in Minnesota. He also travelled to Dijon, France, to spend a summer abroad with his teacher and a few classmates.
He decided to attend Wake Forest after learning of the university’s similar study abroad opportunities in France; he returned to Dijon in Fall 2024 and also studied and researched in Paris while an undergraduate.
Kost said he cherished each opportunity to advance his language skills while building relationships that transcend cultural differences.
“With my semester abroad through Wake Forest in Dijon, I learned how that power of connection works through language,” Kost said. “We were in classes at the French Language Institute at the University of Burgundy… with people from all over the world. There were people from Ukraine, Singapore, Iran—just everywhere… some of them didn’t speak English, so [French was] our only mutual language.”
He added that living abroad exposed him to learning opportunities beyond the classroom.
“My host mom was awesome,” Kost said. “She was a modern art gallerist, so her house was filled with modern and contemporary art. It was really fun to get to know her and live with her, but also to be able to find out what she’s interested in and learn a lot about France from an artistic and cultural level, too.”
Recalling meaningful conversations he shared with Wake Forest alumni living in Paris, Kost advised current undergraduates to take full advantage of the university network.
“Keeping and building those relationships is so special,” Kost said.
He also appreciates his connections on campus in North Carolina.
“Because it is a smaller department, the professors really do care about you,” Kost said of the French Studies program. “They want to be there for you in all stages of your life.”
He specifically named French professors Kendall Tarte and Stephen Murphy as two of his most influential mentors.
“I was joking with [Tarte] at the French major and minor reception, and she joked to someone who had just declared the French major… ‘Oh, I haven’t spoken to Charlie in English in two years,’” Kost laughed. “You do have that very language-based relationship.”
Tarte said that Kost is a “truly dedicated” student.
“One thing that stands out about Charlie is his true, deep curiosity about other languages and cultures,” she stated. “During his study abroad semester in Dijon, Charlie was open to each new experience and person he encountered.”
Next year, Kost will return across the Atlantic to pursue his master’s in applied linguistics at University College London (UCL). Having studied at the Worrell House in Spring 2024, Kost said he is interested to see what his life will look like in the city post-Wake Forest.
“I was definitely spoiled living in this amazing, large house with 14 other people and a professor,” Kost laughed.
Kost plans to eventually attend law school and perhaps pursue a PhD. He said he aspires to become a lawyer, but that entering academia might also “be in the cards.”
For now, he’s most excited to dig even deeper into his passion for language during the year-long UCL degree program.
“I’m very interested in how language works in the world,” Kost said. “Language is a gateway into people’s lives.”
