My educational experience at California State University Monterey Bay was very rewarding and the courses I completed, as well as the Major Learning Outcomes, deeply expanded my knowledge of the Spanish language and the Hispanic cultures that use this rich language. The major featured linguistic, literature and culture based courses, and although I feel in love with the language itself, the major took me on a journey through the history of the arts and the people that use the language.
I initially chose Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures as my major because I wanted to become a high school Spanish teacher and the program at CSUMB seemed to be a great survey of the language as it featured classes like Advanced Spanish Grammar, Hispanic Testimonials and History and Politics of Latin America. I knew the program would make me a well rounded teacher in the future. As I took more courses and worked for the university with International Programs and Student Housing and Residential life, I found myself being able to connect with English language learners and I was able to relate to them with the process of learning a second language. I now see the major has shaped me to want to work as an administrator within a department that works with international and marginalized students and the major has given me the cultural awareness and competency to work in a position like this.
The major has taught me a lot about the language and culture but it has also helped me develop my professional self and the surrounding community through the service learning course that I took my first semester. In the course we learned about inequity within the country and how we can use our privilege as students to assist those who fall a victim to this inequity. I was fortunate enough to volunteer for the CSUMB Chinatown Learning Center as an English Language tutor. It was here I deepened my love for education and I found power in supporting the community members in their language learning journey, but also by providing a listening ear as they expressed their frustrations about the adversities faced not speaking English. This is where I found my desire to help people, particularly marginalized students adjust to living on or near campus as they face their struggles society puts on them.
In relation to the major, I would say that I am most proud of my subcultural awareness. Particularly, the understanding that the history found within text books and supported by the government fails to be transparent with the inequity and sub-historical events that poorly reflect the government. The class that helped me understand and discuss this was Hispanic Testimonials, and the class did discuss the classifications of a testimony, I was most interested in the experience of marginalized groups of people. For instance, the experience of slaves in Latin America, native communities in Latin America, and the targeted groups of people during military dictatorships. This understanding that the history of marginalized groups of people is equally, if not more, dense than the popularized history of a country sparked my interest in a capstone topic that reflected this concept.
I am equally as proud of my Capstone as it reflected the experience of two fictional queer males. Although the books we chose to analyze were fictional, both authors based their novels on a combination of personal experiences and the experience of their friends and community members. We were able to cover outcomes from all six Major Learning Outcomes and focus them into one project. I am proud of this project because we brought awareness to a marginalized group of men and were able to do this with our privilege and the power of education. Some of these educational privileges were the advantage to communicate in both English and Spanish, be equipped with the knowledge to effectively research and analyze, and, lastly, access to reliable sources of technology to create and deliver this information.
The major has shaped me into a very informed critical individual with the ability to effectively communicate in English and Spanish. Besides this the major has helped me develop educational, career and personal goals. I will continue to develop my Spanish language by reading books in Spanish and continue to write daily journals in Spanish to practice my writing skills. In relation to career and education, I will be pursuing my Masters of Education with a Concentration in Student Affairs with the ultimate goal of working with marginalized groups of students within the higher education setting. Overall the major has strengthened my communication skills and this is evident in my educational and career development.
I initially chose Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures as my major because I wanted to become a high school Spanish teacher and the program at CSUMB seemed to be a great survey of the language as it featured classes like Advanced Spanish Grammar, Hispanic Testimonials and History and Politics of Latin America. I knew the program would make me a well rounded teacher in the future. As I took more courses and worked for the university with International Programs and Student Housing and Residential life, I found myself being able to connect with English language learners and I was able to relate to them with the process of learning a second language. I now see the major has shaped me to want to work as an administrator within a department that works with international and marginalized students and the major has given me the cultural awareness and competency to work in a position like this.
The major has taught me a lot about the language and culture but it has also helped me develop my professional self and the surrounding community through the service learning course that I took my first semester. In the course we learned about inequity within the country and how we can use our privilege as students to assist those who fall a victim to this inequity. I was fortunate enough to volunteer for the CSUMB Chinatown Learning Center as an English Language tutor. It was here I deepened my love for education and I found power in supporting the community members in their language learning journey, but also by providing a listening ear as they expressed their frustrations about the adversities faced not speaking English. This is where I found my desire to help people, particularly marginalized students adjust to living on or near campus as they face their struggles society puts on them.
In relation to the major, I would say that I am most proud of my subcultural awareness. Particularly, the understanding that the history found within text books and supported by the government fails to be transparent with the inequity and sub-historical events that poorly reflect the government. The class that helped me understand and discuss this was Hispanic Testimonials, and the class did discuss the classifications of a testimony, I was most interested in the experience of marginalized groups of people. For instance, the experience of slaves in Latin America, native communities in Latin America, and the targeted groups of people during military dictatorships. This understanding that the history of marginalized groups of people is equally, if not more, dense than the popularized history of a country sparked my interest in a capstone topic that reflected this concept.
I am equally as proud of my Capstone as it reflected the experience of two fictional queer males. Although the books we chose to analyze were fictional, both authors based their novels on a combination of personal experiences and the experience of their friends and community members. We were able to cover outcomes from all six Major Learning Outcomes and focus them into one project. I am proud of this project because we brought awareness to a marginalized group of men and were able to do this with our privilege and the power of education. Some of these educational privileges were the advantage to communicate in both English and Spanish, be equipped with the knowledge to effectively research and analyze, and, lastly, access to reliable sources of technology to create and deliver this information.
The major has shaped me into a very informed critical individual with the ability to effectively communicate in English and Spanish. Besides this the major has helped me develop educational, career and personal goals. I will continue to develop my Spanish language by reading books in Spanish and continue to write daily journals in Spanish to practice my writing skills. In relation to career and education, I will be pursuing my Masters of Education with a Concentration in Student Affairs with the ultimate goal of working with marginalized groups of students within the higher education setting. Overall the major has strengthened my communication skills and this is evident in my educational and career development.