Profesora Gómez, Nick, Kerri, Anthony, Mia, Rachel, Profesora Moon, Kafui
2019 Department of Modern Languages Commencement Award
It is with pleasure that we announce that the 2019 Department of Modern Languages Award goes to
Rachel Lagasse! Rachel will graduate with a dual degree: a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Spanish and a concentration in Actuarial Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance.
First and foremost, Rachel´s academic performance in her Spanish major coursework has been outstanding. Her GPA in her Spanish major is 3.95. She placed into SP305 as a freshman, the highest placement we allow for non-native speakers, and has taken all of her coursework at the advanced level. In addition to working to improve her language skills through courses such as Reading and Writing and Conversation and Composition, she has also taken coursework in a variety of content areas including film, literature, culture (2 courses), and Spanish for Business. In the classroom, Rachel is thoughtful and focused; she makes connections between courses and other disciplines, and her quiet leadership keeps her groups focused and in the target language.
As a freshman in SP310 Spanish-Speaking Cultures, Rachel researched and presented on La Bestia, the name given to the network of cargo trains in Mexico on top of which Central American refugees and immigrants ride to reach the U.S./Mexico border. In her sophomore year, she teamed up with another student (also a Spanish major) in SP308 Survey of Literature in Spanish to adapt the short story «No oyes ladrar los perros» by Juan Rulfo into a written play, which they then performed for the class as their final project. In her junior year, she created a website about present day social and cultural topics in Costa Rica, highlighting issues such as LGBTTTI rights, the ecotourism industry, and afro-latinos in politics, as her final research project in SP403 Cultures of Spanish-Speaking nations. Her project can be found here:
https://costa-ricaaa.weebly.com/ She is finishing her Spanish major by completing a directed study on film and literature by women of Spanish-Speaking world this semester.
Rachel spent one month studying and interning abroad in Alicante, Spain during summer 2018. In addition to living with a host family and taking an advanced grammar class 5 days a week, she also interned 3 afternoons a week at Ingegratur, an international company that helps business become more accessible for disabled or elderly customers (hotels, retail stores, any type of business). Of her experiences, Rachel states “The study abroad experience overall was amazing-- I met some lifelong friends, learned so much about the language and the culture, and had so much fun. I think I grew a lot as a person being there alone and with a host mom who spoke zero English and was a little older than I was expecting. I'd definitely recommend studying abroad in the summer to anyone else who wants to knock off some extra credits or get a different internship perspective than the typical/traditional.”
Finally, Rachel was our nominee for the Spanish Representative for the CAS Dean's Advisory Council for the 2018-2019 academic year, and has served with distinction, making keen observations and recommendations to the Council on behalf of the Department of Modern Languages and the College of Arts and Sciences. Her work for the February 14th Love Your Major event last month was outstanding: she recruited another Spanish major student to help her and the two of them created posters, baked food, and staffed our department´s table for the entire event.
Congratulations, Rachel!
Spanish Awards
Awards are given to Spanish majors, concentrators and minors who have distinguished themselves in the following areas:
The Academic Achievement Award recognizes learners who can communicate effectively in the target language on academic subjects such as business, culture, film, history, linguistics, and literature. Due to all we have already mentioned about Rachel´s success in her coursework across our Spanish curriculum, it is our honor to present the Academic Achievement Award to Rachel Lagasse.
The Intellectual Entrepreneur Award recognizes a student who has the curiosity and imagination to make connections across disciplines and who who actively seeks out opportunities to learn.
Kerri O´Connell, a senior, studying Global Supply Chain Management with a concentration Spanish, recently finished her Senior Thesis as part of the Honors Program at Bryant.
Kerri choose to complete her Thesis entirely in Spanish, completing a 60 page research paper based on a full year’s worth of research! Kerri shared her work with the Bryant community, completing 2 presentations - one in English and one in Spanish on REDay. Kerri’s research, entitled, ¡Viva Latino! The Rising Popularity of Latin Music in the US, included traditional humanities research, as well as data analytics, including interview that she conducted with Leila Cobo, an expert in Latin Music at Billboard, as well as data analysis of a survey Kerri conducted, and analysis of Spotify data on the presence of Latin Songs on traditionally English-language playlists. It has been my honor to work with Kerri as her faculty advisor, and I can assure you all that she is an amazing young woman, and that her project is, without a doubt, the best work that I have ever seen come out of the Spanish program at Bryant. Congratulations, Kerri!
The Social Entrepreneur Award recognizes learners who demonstrate personal and intellectual growth through community engagement.
An International Business major with a concentration in Spanish, Kafui Gozey traveled on SIE Argentina and Chile with Profesora Gómez and this is where her love for the language was further ignited. It was on that trip that she decided that Chile would be the country she would choose to study abroad her junior year. Upon her return, this student took an advanced course with me and her fluency was stronger and she performed academically well in this course. She was a student that consistently volunteered and was confident in her speaking ability.
Kafui then approached Profesora Moon in December of her senior year, interested in pursuing something unique to finish her concentration in Spanish, something that would allow her to interact with the Spanish-speaking community in RI and give her the opportunity to use her language skills in the ¨real-world¨, much as she had done during her internship in Chile during her junior year abroad. For the past 12 weeks, Kafui has spend 3 hours every Saturday at Progreso Latino in Central Falls teaching math and literacy skills to native Spanish speakers. In her weekly reflections, Kafui ponders the difficult questions about how social topics such as minimum wage, the high cost of education, and the unique problems that immigrants face in our communities affect the people that she works with. In so many ways, Kafui is already changing the world for the better! Congratulations.
The Language Mastery Award recognizes learners who have acquired communicative and intercultural competence through formal study and application.
Nick Walker, a senior, an International Business and Spanish double-major, began his Spanish studies at Bryant at the intermediate level. Throughout his 4 years, he gradually worked his way through our intermediate and advanced level courses, studying courses including conversation, literature, culture, and Spanish for business. During his junior year, he studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain where he completed an internship in Spanish at the Chamber of Commerce. In his final semester, this Nick has used his language skills in some amazing ways, including conducting a phone interview - in Spanish- with contacts from Chile as part of his IB Practicum, and a directed study to finish his Spanish major. Inspired to use and to deepen his languages skills in a new way, Nick chose to dive deeply into one primary source in an effort to master both the language and the content of that source. Entitled The Life and Death of Pablo Escobar, his research offered an intimate analysis into one of history’s most notorious drug-lords, which he presented - in Spanish - at REDay a few weeks ago. Congratulations, Nick!
The Cultural Ambassador Award recognizes learners who apply a cosmopolitan outlook to global citizenship. We have two recipients for this award:
Mia Broderick, a senior will finish off with Human Resource and Spanish double-major. She began her studies at the intermediate level and she traveled with me to Argentina and Chile on SIE her sophomore year. She had a love for the language and knew that she wanted to study abroad given that she was majoring in the language. Her junior year she studied abroad in Malaga, Spain. I was privileged to have her as an advanced student that same year. Upon her return on campus she has helped me with the Cameron Fitzpatrick Grozinger tournament that honors an IB/Spanish student that passed due to a peanut allergy. Mia herself knows the importance of this allergy and helped spread the awareness on our campus. Most recently, this student has served on my eboard for BUSCO (Bryant Univ. Spanish Cultural Org.) as the treasurer. As a senior and well versed student at Bryant I can’t thank her enough for all her help with organization and balancing that excel sheet. Countless emails, texts and contributions to our campus. Congratulations, Mia!
Antonio Deluca, a senior with a major in International Business and double minor in Spanish and Chinese, he began his Spanish studies at Bryant at the advanced level. His first course with me with Spanish 307 a conversation and composition course. From day 1 of meeting this student, it was obvious to me that he wanted to not only master Spanish but Chinese as well. There were moments where he got both languages confused early on. He traveled with me on SIE Argentina and Chile his sophomore year and it was here that I was truly able to see his confidence in the language. He studied abroad in China as he knew that he needed to in order to increase his fluency in his third language. Upon his return to Bryant this student was that one that I always knew would become involved in the activities that the could prove his fluency in Spanish. Two years in a row, he has been the winner of a Karoake in Spanish contest during latin night. This past fall, he joined in along with 15 other Bryant students to compete in a national competition with an elevator pitch with the Sales Department and won first place amongst 25 contestants.
