“I have a student, Brynn Nelson, who has distinguished herself academically. Not by her GPA or a scholarship, but by pursuing her passion for Spanish,” said Spanish teacher Diane Mulroney.
Nelson, a senior, went to middle school at Holy Family and started her Spanish journey there, but she became most interested in her Honors Spanish 3 class with Doctora.
Doctora’s approach to incorporating speaking and conversational practice helped Nelson realize her affinity for the language and from there she excelled.
In the summer between Nelson’s Honors Spanish 3 class and this year’s IB Spanish class, she created her own “immersion experience.”
“I started to practice speaking Spanish with my Latino co-workers, listened to music and podcasts in Spanish, found online forums and voice channels to practice my Spanish and even changed the language in my devices into Spanish,” said Nelson.
Some of her greatest accomplishments would be within her language learning journey, and she would say her biggest accomplishment is reaching a C1 Level in Spanish and a B1 in Portuguese.
Nelson thinks another reason that she fell in love with Spanish was because it links her with a community and, within that, multiple cultures.
“I think that everyone in their lifetime should make an attempt in studying another language. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States, so studying Spanish not only can aid communication in personal and work settings, but it also helps you become culturally knowledgeable of those around you. Studying any language can help with that,” said Nelson.
Learning Spanish, Nelson added, helped her build community and a deeper connection to the loved ones she has in Argentina.
She has worked at Chick-Fil-A for almost a year and a half, and although one of her biggest hobbies is language learning, she also enjoys the arts like singing, dancing and visual art.
Nelson said, “If I had to give any advice to anyone who is studying a language, I would say to not give up. I know sometimes how frustrating it seems when you can’t remember that specific vocabulary word, but if you keep working towards it, it becomes much easier.”
