It’s safe to say the Spanish Department at UMass Amherst wasn’t what I was expecting. I partly chose this major when I applied because this was my strong suit in High School, but I also chose it because I was inspired by my community. Growing up in the Northampton Public school system just down the road from UMass, I witnessed many levels of racism and classism beginning in elementary school: our classrooms were segregated, with myself and all my other white friends from educated families in one class, and our peers that were black, hispanic, poor, misbehaved, and any combination of these in the other class usually with the older, harsher teacher. In high school, the Spanish speaking students who had recently immigrated from Latin America were taught in one classroom removed from the rest of the student body, and I didn’t know these students’ names for quite some time. I had the honor of befriending these students when we started an after school club for Spanish learners and English learners to converse and practice together. This brought so much joy to both parties and I realized that as long as I was to be a part of a community where there were people learning “my” language, it was my duty to learn theirs.