Spanish Guidance by Sophie

Spanish Guidance by Sophie - March 2023 Scholarship Essay

I think that there is this idea given to many middle and high school students in the United States that foreign languages are unlikely to be used in your life once you finish your education. In many other countries around the world, learning multiple languages is expected from a young age and used for traveling and in the workplace. In the United States, it is not commonly seen as necessary to learn more languages because so many countries know how to speak English. The only careers that I thought used Spanish in the United States were teachers. All of my friends have always talked about how they are just going to get the required amount of foreign language classes done and then get on with their lives. I thought this was all that was in the cards for me too until I had my favorite teacher in eighth and ninth grade who taught me that I can use whatever my passion is in my life and job, even if it is something rare in the United States like Spanish.
For the first few years of my Spanish education, I never would have guessed that this was my passion and that it was what I would pursue. I greatly enjoyed Spanish, but I did not consider it because I thought my career options within this area were limited, only really knowing people that had Spanish degrees as teachers. My ideas on future careers leaned more towards engineering or medicine because I was told that these kinds of jobs would be highly respected and paid. Once I had my amazing Spanish teacher in eighth grade, I knew that something was different about this subject. I had already taken Introduction to Spanish in sixth grade and Spanish one in seventh grade, but since I moved to a new state, I ended up having to restart at Spanish one because of the new school’s system. Despite having already studied Spanish for two years, I learned more in my new teacher’s one year class than I had in two at my old school. This was because he made sure to make the material interesting. He knew that since it was an honors class that we would all want to learn more than we had to and keep our minds challenged. He would tell us the smallest details about the language and culture that we would not need to know until years down the line, but it encouraged us to be curious and explore so much in the language at an early age. Again, I enjoyed the subject but did not really know what I could do with it. It was clear that none of my friends thought that they would continue to use it in their life after high school, so I followed this train of thought as well. It was not until my freshmen year when I had the same teacher again for Spanish two that I realized this was really my passion and that I should pursue it. I sat at the front of the class shouting out answers eagerly and going above and beyond, doing more conjugation charts that were not required. My teacher was so impressed that he would always comment on how I had a gift with the language and that he knew I was probably going to be a rocket scientist or another fancy job like that but that I should really consider following my natural talent and love. He set me up with a Spanish tutoring job during my sophomore year and always checked in on how my Spanish was going. His encouragement led me to start to consider jobs in the Spanish area that I could pursue. I finally found my dream job that included Spanish: International Business. I would be able to talk to other businesses in Spanish speaking countries and use my knowledge of the language and culture to do business with them. I realized that I could pursue my passion of Spanish but also have a well paying and exciting job. My teacher taught me the importance of learning about other languages and cultures around the world in order to connect with a variety of different people and that this knowledge can be used in jobs in the real world, despite common high school beliefs in the United States that foreign languages are not worth studying. He truly impacted my life by guiding me towards my passion and showing me the importance of Spanish and all that I can do with it.
I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to have this wonderful teacher who helped give direction to my life. I was so unsure about what I wanted to do and how I could pursue my passions, but his encouragement and guidance helped me find a degree and career that I never would have imagined for myself. I am now so excited and know it is the right job for me. I really do not know what path I would be going down today without him, and I am truly grateful that I had the courage to go against the norm and decide to pursue Spanish after high school and for the rest of my life.