 Janae Purcella is a 2006 South High School graduate and recent graduate of Brigham Young University
As a student enrolled in Spanish at Goldenview Middle School, I never anticipated how profoundly studying a foreign language would influence my future and inspire my career.
After just two short years of studying Spanish, I had the opportunity to develop my language skills by immersion. The summer after my eighth grade year, I lived in San Javier, Chile for three months. I was completely enveloped in the language and culture and was able to easily communicate by the end of my stay.
I continued to study Spanish in high school and completed AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature. I scored well on both AP exams and had several university courses waived as a result. Consequently, I decided to major in Spanish Teaching upon entering Brigham Young University (BYU). During my sophomore year at the university I was given the opportunity to serve as an intern for LDS Employment Services in Trujillo, Peru. My primary responsibility was to teach a twelve-hour career workshop to native Spanish speakers.
While studying Spanish in high school I also became interested in studying Russian. Russian, unfortunately, was not offered at that time, so I took Russian 101 & 102 at the University of Alaska Anchorage and then continued my studies at BYU. I felt, however, that in order to improve my language skills, I needed to live in Russia. As a result, I arranged to study at a linguistics university in Siberia and spent four months living in Irkutsk. After completing a few more courses upon my return to BYU, I received a Russian Teaching minor.
It is an amazing feeling to be able to communicate with people from different cultures and backgrounds. In addition to traveling, I have been able to use my language skills in a variety of local settings. Last summer, for example, I worked for a law firm and was able to serve as the primary interpreter for one of ourSpanish clients. Additionally, I am able to talk to non-English speakers on the street or in the grocery store and offer my assistance when needed. I believe studying a foreign language offers new perspectives and possibilities – it is not just something that looks good on paper, but rather, promotes world-wide citizenship and understanding.
 Jamie Cornejo is a Government Hill program graduate now studying at Stanford University
Four beneficial things that the Spanish Immersion Program brought to me
- Diversity - It gave me perspective on a number of different cultures, learning to appreciate differences in beliefs and opinions.
- Bilingual - It perfected my Spanish as a second language, as well as fine-tuned my English reading, writing and verbal skills. Knowing two languages is extremely important for a career where I can communicate to a more diverse crowd.
- Close community - I've known some of the same kids since kindergarten and they have been my friends in everything (in and out of school.) I know that in time of serious need they would be there for me.
- Interaction with well educated teachers - By taking higher level Spanish classes, I received the opportunity to work with professionals who were well accomplished in the field of Spanish. In knowing that there was a mutual dedication to this program - both student to teacher and teacher to student - strong, amiable bonds were formed.
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 Britt Derksen is a Chugiak High School graduate of the Spanish immersion program is now a medical student in West Virginia
I am so fortunate to have received the opportunity to immerse myself in the Spanish Immersion Program. Being the first class to go through the Immersion Program, we did experience our ups and downs, but in the end, we were all so appreciative of the work and time that was invested in us. After studying abroad in Spain for the first semester of my senior year, I decided that I wanted to pursue Spanish in college.
I received a Division 1 scholarship to play soccer at Valparaiso University and was able to test out of multiple Spanish courses. During my college career, I used my Spanish quite often.
While in my freshman year, I went on a medical trip with my university to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and volunteered as a translator for International Service Learning. We set up clinics in rural and destitute areas and also participated in home visits to evaluate and discover these dreary conditions. Here, I was so glad to be bilingual, because I truly got to know these people, rather than simply look for symptoms within the translation. I also still keep in touch with my host family in Costa Rica to this day.
As for my junior year of college, I still yearned to travel and decided to embark on my unforgettable journey around the world on Semester at Sea with the University of Virginia. Out of the 12 countries we visited, Puerto Rico was the only Spanish-speaking country; however, I was able to get by in Brazil as well, and met many other Spanish travelers along the way.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in pre-med, majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry and Spanish. After graduating in 2008, I got the travel bug again and decided to backpack in Europe for a few months. Visiting 18 countries, I made sure to make a trip back to Spain where I spent the 2009 Christmas holidays with my host family that I hadn't seen for nearly seven years.
I was just recently accepted into Medical School in West Virginia, and I truly believe that my bilingual ability had a great impact on the Admissions Committee's decision. I am very excited to go back and help those under-served communities, using both my medical expertise and my Spanish. With the way our society is moving, Hispanics will soon reach 50% of the population, and it will be necessary to be bilingual in order to receive a decent job. When I become a parent, there is no question in my mind whether I would place my child in an immersion program if I had the opportunity. I simply want to reiterate how amazing this program truly is, and how fortunate one is to be a part of this close-knit community.
 Ariel Hyams is a 2009 West High School graduate of the Spanish immersion program is now studying at Saint Louis University
Having graduated from the Spanish Immersion program has opened a lot of doors for me. This year I am a freshman at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri where I'm studying Communication Sciences and Disorders with minors in Spanish and probably Special Education. One of the reasons I chose SLU was because of the campus they have in Madrid, Spain. Thanks to my fluency I'll be able to communicate with my host family, continue taking advanced Spanish classes, and immerse myself more fully in the Spanish culture while I'm studying abroad there next spring. Being fluent in another language also helped me decide what direction I wanted to take with my education. I chose to major in CSD because I want to come back to Alaska after graduate school and be a bilingual speech pathologist in the Anchorage School District. The number of kids that come through the schools that are misdiagnosed as having a speech problem because of their accent or lack of English is astounding and I feel that it is important to help reverse this and to provide treatment opportunities for the kids that do have speech problems who only speak Spanish, or have limited English skills. Languages open up so many opportunities for us that would otherwise be nonexistent and one of the things I value the most from my education within the ASD has definitely been my Spanish fluency. As I've gotten older and have been exposed to more and more situations where language has come in handy, I've realized how lucky I was to have the chance to be in Spanish Immersion, and how important knowing the language will be later on in life.
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