I write this blog post as I finish my time as a Spanish major at UMass Amherst. Although I am sad that my time here is coming to an end, I can look positively on my experiences I have had, both at UMass and within the Spanish department. Although I have not had the study abroad experience, I can speak to some of the internship opportunities I have had during my time as a Spanish major. While I think that studying abroad is an amazing opportunity, I also think that internships can also have an impact on students, regardless of what they study. My hope of this blog post is to show that someone studying Spanish can have meaningful internships in which they use what they learned during their career as a Spanish major. I use two of my own internship experiences, one in Washington, D.C. and one in Amherst, MA, to show how internships can bring about meaningful connections with the Spanish major and how someone can complete a wide range of internships.

During the summer between my junior year and senior year I worked at an educational excellence initiative for Hispanics in Washington, D.C. During this internship, I gained experience working with education policy that impacts the Hispanic community in schools in the United States. We focused on topics such as Latinx teacher recruitment, internship opportunities for Latinx students, amongst other projects. Although I did not often speak Spanish during this internship, this experience made me realize that the Spanish major is so much more than just speaking Spanish. I often reflected on classes such as Spanish 417 and many of my multicultural education classes during this internship. This internship also made me realize the importance of approaching Spanish from various perspectives. For example, we cannot have a narrow view of Spanish and only think of it in relation to Spain. Through internships like this one, one can have a broader view of Spanish. I think the Spanish department at UMass does a good job shaping the curriculum so it is not exclusively focused on Spain. For example, there are many classes that actually focus on the Latinx community within the United States. These classes include Spanish 417, Spanish Latinx Theater Project, Latinx Literature, amongst others. Although I do want to become a teacher, this internship also allowed me to see that there are many things one can do with a Spanish major. For example, I did not have much policy background going into this internship in Washington, but I thought critically about what I had learned at UMass, and I think that really helped my experience.

Another internship I completed was working in ELL classes (social studies and English) at a local middle school. In this sense, I moved from policy to the classroom. Most of the students in these classes were from Spanish-speaking countries, and during my experience at this internship, I often used my Spanish to converse with the them. Many were beginner English learners, so I often helped them with the assignments in Spanish. I even did some lessons with them. Just like my experience at the internship in Washington, D.C., my perceptions of what it means to study Spanish changed. I had first entered UMass thinking that Spanish majors only went to study in Spain and only took classes that focused on how to speak Spanish. However, during my time at the middle school, I could bring my learning of Spanish to the local setting, and to me, that was important. While many of my friends were abroad, I used Spanish in the local setting and also reflected on the sociopolitical context, and I think this speaks to the dynamics of the Spanish major.

A lot of emphasis is put on study abroad, and I think that this is great. I think it is important to experience other countries and immerse oneself in another culture. However, I also think that internships can be impactful, especially if one thinks about it critically. An internship can expand one’s perceptions of the Spanish major, as it did for me. Some people think that internships relating to Spanish are hard to find, but they do exist—it is just a matter of looking and making those meaningful connections between the major and your experience.