Student Reflection

by Michelle Lee
¡Hola a todos! My name is Michelle Lee and I am currently a senior double majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. If you haven’t guessed already, I’m primarily interested in cultures and languages! I have been taking Spanish courses since 6th grade; many people ask me if I am fluent and the answer is no! One of my goals in life is to become fluent in Spanish and I am still in the process of working on it. Spanish has been a huge part of my life and I can't imagine ever giving it up.
This past summer I had the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do – study abroad! I chose to go to Granada, España primarily because 90% of my Spanish professors have been from Spain so I am more used to their vocabulary usage. Plus, who doesn’t want to spend a summer in gorgeous Europe? Although I only spent two months in Granada, my confidence in speaking improved and my vocabulary greatly expanded.
This semester I will be volunteering as a tutor for a second grader at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign for the SOAR after-school program. I chose to volunteer for SOAR because I not only hope to further improve on my speaking skills, but I also want to act as a mentor to someone since I have no siblings. Ideally I'd love to work with older children, but as long as I can help someone, no me importa con quien trabajo. Tomorrow will be my first day working as a volunteer - I am both very excited and nervous to meet my student! :) Through this experience I hope to make a positive impact on the Latino community!

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