When we think of internships, we often think of the stereotypical internship. You guessed it. Serving coffee, running errands, making copies, etc. But not all internships are like this. In fact, I was even a fellow in one in which I never made a coffee run.
If you’re interested in working in the city, an internship that is geared toward your major, opportunities to grow professionally, gain needed credits, and even earn some money to go on your own coffee run, look no further.
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I don’t quite remember the statistics, but if you were to ask a random student on campus whether they knew what “SGA” was, they probably wouldn’t; and it isn’t surprising. UMass has about 30,000 students with about 23k being undergraduates. The Student Government Association (known more commonly as SGA) is the government that represents the undergraduate body. With a school so large as UMass and a small percentage of the population that actually vote, it is not surprising that many students go their four years without ever hearing or thinking about SGA. Imagine if the US government were elected by 5% of the population and somehow the majority of the population continued on with their lives without ever knowing or hearing about what their government is up to. It sounds like an episode out of Black Mirror!
Continue readingI had the experience of participating in service-learning with Fort River Elementary School. In 2019, Fort River piloted a bilingual elementary school program starting with two kindergarten classrooms. One classroom would spend the morning in Spanish and the afternoon in English and the other class would participate in the opposite way. Going into this service-learning, I had some previous in-school learning with Danielle Thomas in Spanish 357. In this class, we discussed differences in ways that Anglo Americans communicate with each other versus Hispano Americans. I was told that I was in the school to promote speaking Spanish in the hallways and to be a Spanish-speaking role model to the children. I spent some time in the Spanish kindergarten classroom and got to help children with their work. I also played games in Spanish during recess such as “Simón Dice” and talked with the kids during lunch. I developed my listening skills because the pronunciation was difficult to understand and I expanded my vocabulary so I would have things to talk about with the children such as every different species of animal.
Continue readingSince seventh grade, I have actively been learning the Spanish language. Once I reached high school, I began to grow a love for the Spanish-speaking country, Colombia. I love their food, listening to Colombian music, their history, its landscape, telenovelas, and the overall beauty found within the country. Needless to say, for years, I’ve been wanting to travel to Colombia. Not only to gain fluency and to explore the country, but to pursue my honors thesis. The amount of times I have switched my major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is mind-blowing, but something that has always remained constant in my field of studies is my passion for humane immigration reform in the United States.
Continue readingLas summer I learned of the volunteer site called Cov-Education that focused on helping students with extra help during the Covid pandemic. The first student I was assigned to tutor never reached out to me. So I was a few weeks without touring. I didn’t expect to gain much but to tutor students in English and Spanish. However, a nonprofit organization president reached out to me a few weeks after finding my profile on the Cov-Education site. She asked me if I was okay with tutoring students outside of the United States because she needed a tutor for students who lived in the US but got deported back to Mexico. I agreed and ended up working with teenagers in Mexico. I started making lesson plans and had to figure out how to reach out to these kids through video chat. I learned a lot about myself, about teenagers, and teaching in general. I thought that if I put a little faith in myself everything would be okay. I learned the workload it is to lesson plan, teach, and the importance of being prepared. My experience in teaching these students has been a fantastic and eye-opening experience. I have learned the best way to aid them in learning while also trying to make it easier for them to adapt to learning through a screen. First, what took me to surprise is how ready they were to learn and their excitement every time they understood a concept.
Continue readingFrom Pupusas to Sancocho , Latin American food is always an blessing especially when it is cooked with love. On college campus it can become difficult to find Latin American food especially in such a rural area. However, I compiled a list of Latin American restaurants that are near and in the Amherst area. Here is the list of restaurants with their address and recommended dish to try , whether you are homesick or trying to explore different cuisines.
Continue readingAs a senior in high school, I was extremely conflicted in where I wanted to pursue a higher education. Even on the deposit deadline, I still had absolutely no idea where I wanted to go. I committed to UMass simply because it was the cheapest option, and my logic was that if I wasn’t 100% sold on any of my other options, I might as well go to the one that I could afford. Now, as a college senior, I look back and am so grateful that I chose this school. In this blog post, I am going to cover the top 5 reasons (in no particular order) that I feel why a large school like Umass provides the absolute best education.
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After graduating in December 2018 as a Spanish and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major, I had a soild yet broad understanding of what kind of work I was interested in. I had always wanted to be an educator, but I wasn’t ready to commit to being a teacher. I loved working with kids, valued education, and saw the importance of social justice. I applied to a handful of different jobs in the non-profit and education worlds, but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about any of the opportunities I had applied for, and I was not getting many calls back.
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Since graduating in the spring of 2015 with a Spanish major and Portuguese minor, my life has certainly taken some unusual and less-than-expected twists and turns. For me, that’s been completely fine. Even before I graduated, I never saw myself becoming the typical “careerist” type. At least not right away, and definitely not until I found myself in a fulfilling position working for a company with a suitable ladder to climb, so to speak. So what did I choose to do instead? Teach English abroad of course. This was quite fun while it lasted. Probably the most memorable two years of my life to be honest. But looking back, it wasn’t the English teaching aspect that really made these years stand out for me. It was more the fact that I had this amazing opportunity extend my foreign language education for two consecutive years. Each time in completely new, yet equally engaging and exciting international environments.
What does it mean to be bilingual?
A bilingual person is someone who completely masters two languages at the same time, but these languages must meet the same level of knowledge.
My parents have always insisted on the importance of being bilingual. They talked about all the benefits and opportunities that I would get if I knew more than one language. My mom being from Colombia and my dad from El Salvador spoke Spanish to me from an early age. They always wanted me to speak their native language and that’s why they started to teach me from an early age. Knowing more than one language is of great importance today. Being bilingual is very important as it opens many doors in life. Spanish is one of the most spoken languages around the world. There are too many reasons and advantages as to why a person should learn Spanish. Here are a few reasons on why I believe people should learn Spanish… Continue reading