At UMass, I am in an interesting position of being a part of two very different colleges. One is CNS for my biology major, and the other is HFA for my Spanish major. Beyond the obvious differences within the classes and material, over the past three years I have been able to observe some wild differences between the advisors and professors. In CNS, it can be very difficult to make a connection with my teachers, as in the majority of my classes, I am one of two hundred students sitting in a lecture hall. When I first came to UMass, I had not yet declared a Spanish major, and was unable to enroll in any classes before all the seats were taken by upperclassmen. For this reason, all of my first experiences with my professors were within CNS and therefore extremely distant. Once I began taking classes within the Spanish and Portuguese department, I was shocked at how willing some of the professors and advisors are to help you find what you truly love. Within this department, there are truly genuine people who want you to succeed and will help to get you to your goals.

The first time I realized this was when I met with Patricia Gubitosi having gone to her office to declare a Spanish major. After the paperwork was done, we began to chat about my background with language. Upon finding out that I grew up in a Portuguese family, Patricia immediately began enrolling me in several Portuguese classes and assuring me that I could easily be a triple major and should take as many Portuguese classes as possible. Overwhelmed and confused at what had just happened, I gently stopped Patricia explaining that my biology course load was already heavy and with Spanish added to it, I was at my max. I am forever grateful that Patricia listened to my concerns and helped me to find a way that allowed me to stay on track for graduation, while also giving me the space to explore Portuguese. Patricia was genuinely excited for me to better my heritage language and helped me by finding classes that were at my level without adding too much work and even overwrote a class to count as Spanish credits. By the end of this year, I will have taken 15 credits in Portuguese, and I never would have been able to do it without the encouragement of Patricia.

I am on the pre-dental track, as well as pursing the Spanish and Health Certificate. Luis Marentes has been such a wonderful person to know while I am navigating the crossover between the science based career that I want and Spanish. Once I explained to Luis that I would be unable to study abroad, he immediately helped me to create an internship that will be part of my “experience” for the Spanish major as well as for the certificate. At every step of my journey, he has multiple people to connect me with, articles for me to read, and places that I should look into. His excitement for my learning matches my own, and I am so grateful that he is helping me get the most out of my time at UMass. With every single student in our 394 class, Luis listens to people’s ideas, and then gives them a million suggestions on how to go the next step and what he can do to help.

No matter what your interest is, there is 100% someone in the Spanish and Portuguese department who will either help you themselves, or connect you to someone who shares your passion. I love this department for this reason, and I hope that everyone else utilizes the resources that UMass has to offer through the Spanish and Portuguese faculty members.