Now that I am a senior and college graduation is only 5 months away, the question I seem to be constantly asked is “So, what do you want to do after college?”. I find myself becoming more and more frustrated each time I hear this question because the truth is: I don’t know! Continue reading
“Okay and…”, is the response I always get when I’m asked “what is your major?” I used to dread the question when at family events or even just making new friends at UMass because I didn’t know the answer. It’s a tough question when there are so many possibilities, yet everyone always asks: are you going to teach, translate, or interpret? Which made it seem as though I was restricted to only those careers. SURPRISE. That is not at all what I am interested in. Taking Spanish 394 with Luis Marentes taught me that there’s more options out there for me. I do not need to stick to the common route. I decided that I will double major: Spanish and Hospitality and Tourism management. I’ve always been interested in the service industry, regarding helping others and making them happy. What I learned in this class, is that using the Spanish skills I have will not only make me a competitive candidate for a job, but also give me a variety of places to work at. Once I graduate, I hope I can use both these “degrees” and work in a Spanish speaking country. Maybe a resort in Punta Cana, or Cancun. Or my home country of Puerto Rico. Continue reading
For the second part of my Integrative experience, I’ve decided to try to find a law internship. Is this my final decision? No, I still have time to change my mind or take a service learning class for example. Unfortunately, I am unable to go abroad due to various reasons, like parental opinion, and lack of time to do honors requirements due to being a transfer student. This does not mean I want to work in a law firm, but work in an environment that is related to the fields I have interest in, such as immigration or family law. I want to gain exposure and knowledge before applying to law school. I hope to meet new people and form new connections. For this blog post, I’d like to talk about my process so far of finding the right internship for me. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
In my time at UMass, I have always been advised by professors and advisors to aim to complete three internships during my time at the university. Although there are plenty of resources to find jobs, I still have had a difficult time finding internships and jobs, especially ones that would allow me to use and practice my Spanish.
During my sophomore year, a classmate of mine in the Integrative Experience class told us all about his time as a Spanish-English interpreter for the Amherst Regional Public Schools district. The job sounded amazing: work in a school, work locally, and use my Spanish.
Royal Collin Gardner graduated from our program in 2016. We are happy that he has contacted us to let us know how his preparation in our program helped him to become a better firefighter.
I’ve taken a pretty unconventional career path for a Spanish major: I’m pursuing a career as a firefighter. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from UMass last May, I enrolled in a firefighter training course at Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville, Kentucky. I’ve been travelling all over the country testing and interviewing for various Fire Departments. When I mention my major in relation to my career path, or vice versa, I’ll often get a confused response. It seems counter-intuitive: most Spanish majors tend to gravitate towards careers in education, interpreting, or international business, while the average college-educated fire candidate usually majors in Fire Science or Emergency Management. However, I believe that studying Spanish in college has taught me some valuable lessons that I will take with me throughout my career in the fire service.
My experience of being immersed in a Spanish speaking culture with native Spanish speakers happened right here in Massachusetts and this experience influenced not only my choice of a major but also what I want to do with the rest of my life. Many language learners believe the time spent in the classroom or studying is most important but the most valuable time but for me, the time spent interacting with natives and getting a first-hand understanding and experience of their culture was the most rewarding. It is also really rewarding/motivational to be able to immediately use the things you have learned in real world situations to help others. Continue reading
Early into my senior year at UMASS Amherst, I have been fortunate enough to have two internship opportunities that have not only related to my focus in Spanish and International Relations, but have also helped me develop confidence in my own abilities to handle such environments after I graduate in May.
My first internship came this past winter/spring at a non-profit organization named Verité, which operates out of Amherst. At Verité, I was a student researcher and aided in the development of reports that would, in turn, bring attention and support to workers that did not receive compensation worth the work that they were doing, and to illegal activity along the supply chains. Continue reading
If you’re a Portuguese or Spanish major, you know that a requirement for graduating at UMass is completing your Integrative Experience (IE). Most students complete this requirement by going Abroad their sophomore/junior year of college. But what happens if you can’t study abroad for various reasons?
Well, that happened to me. Coming into UMass, I had no idea what I wanted major in. I was unfamiliar with the “college education system” because I was first-generation American and college student. So my family and I had no idea what college would truly be like. I thought I picked the college I wanted to go to and then I would pick my career path, which for me was education, and that was it. I would study to become a teacher, which isn’t necessarily false now. But I had to pick a new major because UMass doesn’t have an Elementary Education major, only a minor. So after discussing with my support systems (family, friends, and Peer Mentor), I choose to major in Portuguese and be a part of the Spanish & Portuguese Department. It was a really good fit for me because I knew some Portuguese beforehand and wanted to improve upon my language. It’s a small program which allowed me to really connect with the faculty and my classmates. Continue reading
For a while I have known that I wanted to be a teacher, but I always struggled with which subject I would teach. After taking Spanish in middle and high school and going on a trip to Spain my junior year of high school, I knew that I wanted to pursue the Spanish language and culture more in depth. When I first came to the University of Massachusetts it was assumed that I would study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. I mean, if I wanted to teach Spanish to others, I should have studied in a Spanish-speaking country. I should speak with natives and I should surround myself with their culture. At the beginning of my time at UMASS I wanted to study for a semester in Spain, then I decided I wanted to study for an entire academic year. However, something changed as I continued my career at UMASS. As I began to take the required education courses in order to get my license to teach, I realized that I wanted to be more on the education side of things. I became fascinated with research and how education could be used for liberation. I saw the social justice side of education as a highly important aspect of our society, and I wanted to continue to explore it. Continue reading