During the midst of my last year of high school, like most students I was eager to get out. Graduating from high school seemed like such a big milestone at the time. I would finally be able to make the decision as to where I wanted to live, and where I wanted to study. I was one of those students who applied to ten or eleven different universities. I had my heart set on a few, but still applied to others just to see if I’d get in. Ironically enough, at this point in time UMASS was my ‘safety school.’ My top pick was the University of Vermont. I loved the very liberal atmosphere, and the education program was so well developed. After receiving my acceptance letter and going to an accepted students’ day, I determined that it would not be financially possible to attend there.

            That led me to my second choice: Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Salve’s campus is right on the water, built among the huge mansions that were once (and still are, in some cases) vacation homes to the extremely wealthy. I had convinced myself that Salve was my dream school. Two weeks in, I was miserable. I remember, towards the end of September, sitting in my dorm room writing out pro/con lists. Should I stay, or should I go? I was never able to come up with more than three or four pros. One BIG con was the lack of diversity. 76% of the student body identifies as ‘white or Caucasian’ and most fall in an upper socioeconomic class. I missed the diversity that I grew up with in my high school. In fact, the only diversity I encountered while there was in my Spanish class.

I moved home after my first semester. I was so discouraged, but I knew that it was the better option. I decided to go to Holyoke Community College to attain my associate’s degree. I had some great experiences and some not so great experiences at HCC. I took a few Spanish classes there and both were excellent. At that point, my Spanish classes were vocabulary and grammar based. Memorization and practice speaking is mainly what was done. Little did I know that there was SO much to Spanish beyond simply conjugating verbs and rolling your r’s.

The decision to attend UMASS was sort of a given. I knew I wanted to stay within Massachusetts to complete my undergraduate studies, and I wanted to be able to commute from home. Something about UMASS stood out to me more than Westfield State University, another local state college. Upon applying for UMASS I learned that I would have to choose a secondary major to accompany my education major. Spanish was sort of the default choice. Learning Spanish came easily to me, and although I wasn’t always perfect with it, I genuinely enjoyed it. Spanish it was.

Now, here I am: a Spanish primary major with an education minor. I later learned that it would take me a pretty long time to complete the double major in early childhood education and Spanish as I had originally planned, so I decided (very last minute) to become a primary major in Spanish and later pursue my master’s degree in education. At this point in my life, I am nearing the four-year mark from when I graduated from high school. I have learned so much in that time period. I’ve always been a ‘good student’ and I’ve always had a plan. My life has changed so much in four years and I have completely veered away from my plan, but in the best way possible. While in school, I gained experience working in retail, food service, as an optometric technician, and with children in a preschool setting (which is where my heart lies). In all of these professions, I have been able to use my Spanish in some form or another. Spanish is a major that transcends all subjects. It is so much more than studying vocabulary and verbiage out of a textbook. Spanish is culture, art… everything. Becoming a Spanish major has been one of the best decisions I’ve made throughout this whole difficult process. I wouldn’t consider myself to be an advanced speaker by any means, but the great part about learning is that it is a lifelong journey. Through future travels, I can continue to perfect my language skills. Most importantly, I have gained skills that I can give to my current and future students. To me, there is nothing more valuable than learning a new language. It helps to break down biases and cultural barriers and opens up doors to new worlds you would have never experienced in your life.

The bottom line is that the Spanish major goes far beyond the courses taught here in Herter Hall. Spanish is the one concept that was consistent throughout the three colleges I attended, and continues to be a part of the present and my future.