Hola Buenas Tardes Hello Good Afternoon
My name is Shannon McCauley and I'm a senior at Mount Holyoke College majoring in Spanish and Biological sciences
following graduation I plan to pursue a master's in Public health
Throughout my college experience the Spanish language in the Spanish Department at Mount Holyoke has
Really become an integral part of how I identify myself and how I
communicate with my surroundings, so today I
want to share with you some of the transformative ways in which Spanish has shaped my life
So I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area in California
surrounded by a large Spanish-speaking community so I've been listening to the language my entire life
And when it came time in high school to decide which foreign language
I would study spanish was an obvious choice for me because I knew that it would open many doors
of communication to me not only in my home community, but nationally and internationally as well and
I've continued my studies since then
of the language through a gap year living in Costa Rica
My coursework at Mount Holyoke interning in Lima Peru and a year studying abroad in Seville Spain
When I first arrived in Costa Rica
I was nowhere near fluent in Spanish and
This lead to a lot of discomfort when it came to communication
both due to a lack of words and also to cross-cultural differences
However, I found that this discomfort was an important lesson in
communication across difference and being able to identify and connect to a shared human experience no matter
one's background
Fluency in Spanish has offered me many phenomenal opportunities to experience different countries and cultures
but perhaps the most meaningful has been my summer interning for Socios En Salud in Lima Peru
Socios En Salud is the sister organization of Partners in Health and
carries out investigatory research as well as community-based intervention projects
many of which focus on
Tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. I was involved in a research intervention project that was investigating how to best support
HIV-positive youth especially those who are at high risk of abandoning treatment
This experience, not only gave me valuable insight into my desired career
in
community-Based Health care at the Global level but also shifted my world view on the effects of HIV
infection at the personal, interpersonal and community level
Through my ability to communicate and connect to the study participants. I was able to
develop an important understanding of their lived experiences within a society that highly stigmatizes their condition
Without this intimate communication with these individuals through listening to their stories
I would not have been able to empathize with the situation in the way that I did and the
intervention that we developed would not have been as comprehensive
Studying abroad
at the university of Seville I not only had the opportunity to immerse myself in Spanish culture
but also to meet students from many different cultures and countries from all across Europe and Latin America
While we all had different native languages we used Spanish as a common form of expression in order to communicate and
connect with one another
When one is in an environment where shared communication occurs across difference
they truly learn the value of listening and being heard
It was also a time of great upheaval in Europe with
Brexit, the mounting Syrian refugee crisis and the terror attacks that were occurring around the globe and
through discussions of these events. I learned a lot about myself and about the diverse community that I was living in
One of the greatest challenges that I've encountered learning and using Spanish in different situations has been
adapting to the different dialects in each Spanish-speaking country where I have lived the lexicon
has had different words and expressions and the cadence and rhythm of speaking has been unique
Returning to Mount Holyoke
I've been able to connect my professional work back to my academic work through the Spanish department
I have participated in two independent studies based on my experience in Peru
investigating the biopsychosocial factors of vertical HIV transmission and the success of
XDR Tuberculosis treatment in Lima
Additionally
in a
Spanish seminar investigating transgressive women and early Modern Spain
I was able to connect the stigmatization of prostitutes for the transmission of Venereal diseases such as syphilis in the
post-encounter Spanish Empire to the blame placed on
HIV-positive women who give birth HIV-positive infants today around the world
In closing I plan to continue to use my Spanish language skills throughout my public health work
both at home and Abroad and I also hope to have future opportunities to live and travel abroad in Spanish-speaking countries
Thank you, Gracias