Cedars, January 2018

January 2018 6 CAMPUS Leake Awarded for Sharing Spanish Passion by Rebekah Erway L ast November, Rachel Leake, senior Spanish education major, was named Spanish Ambassador of the year 2017 by the SIS: Study in Spain program put on by the Embassy of Spain Trade Commission in Miami. The nationwide ambassador program is a way for students to help other students on their campuses learn about Spanish cul- ture. Leake first heard about the advocacy program from the director of the Institute of Spanish Studies in Valencia where she studied during her sophomore year. He sug- gested she apply to be Cedarville’s student ambassador for last school year, so she did. “I mean, I love Spain and I’m already telling people about it and advocating for it, so why not?” she said. The program enables students to ad- vocate for internship and study abroad op- portunities. Leake said it also allows ambas- sadors to “broaden people’s viewpoints of different cultures in the world.” Students interested in becoming an ambassador have to apply online at the SIS website, and only one ambassador is allowed per campus. The Spanish embassy in Miami looks for new students each year, so Leake recommended that interested stu- dents go to the SIS website for more infor- mation. She said that the program can be as time consuming or laid back as a person makes it. “It’s just a really fun opportunity,” Leake said. From December to August, the pro- gram gave the ambassadors a monthly focus, ranging from places to vacation in Spain to Spanish traditions related to a monthly holiday. The ambassador’s job was to promote that focus to the people on cam- pus and to help them see what is available in and unique about Spain. Leake created a Facebook page and In- stagram to help promote the various issues. She said that, as event coordinator of Span- ish club, she was already doing a lot of that promotion, so she simply “amped it up” as an ambassador. On her pages, Leake shared pictures and videos from her experiences in Spain and gave small excerpts of what the pictures were about. Sometimes she shared unique vocabulary words that gave a glimpse into Spanish culture and vocabulary beyond what someone may have learned in Spanish class. Leake also made a spreadsheet of all different majors at Cedarville and what lo- cation in Spain is most conducive to study- ing abroad for those majors. “I feel like most people think ‘Oh, I can’t study abroad with my major; that won’t fit,’” Leake said, “and I’m like, ‘no, studying abroad is great and it needs to be accessible.” Each month, SIS chose a winner who did the best job of addressing the cho- sen issue. Leake won three out of the nine months, which, she said, probably helped them make the decision to choose her as ambassador of the year. Leake received the award at the Amer- ican Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Language Expo in Nashville at the Spanish embassy luncheon. Many of the attendees of the convention were Spanish teachers from around the country, people from the Spanish embassy, and the presi- dent of ACTFL. Leake said she was excited to get to meet some of them. “It really got me a lot of connections with really important people in the language world,” she said. “So that was kind of crazy” In addition to her trip to the conven- tion, Leake received a one-week trip to Spain, which she will take over the summer. Ambassador of the Year or not, Leake said she enjoyed her time as ambassador because it helped her learn to better com- municate to people who have never experi- enced a different culture the need to be tol- erant and understanding. “Especially in a cultural setting, you need to be prepared to understand the dif- ferences instead of being critical against them,” Leake said. Leake said that the importance of tol- erance was one of the biggest lessons she learned during her time in Spain. She stud- ied abroad to gain fluency and came back with a better knowledge of other cultures and a greater love for Spain and its culture. “That definitely grew my passion for Spain: Living there for a year and having so many deeper connections with the culture and the people,” Leake said. Leake said that she doesn’t expect to stop advocating for Spain any time soon. As a future Spanish teacher, she said she’ll have plenty of opportunities to “name-drop” for Spain. Even in her current role as pre-stu- dent teaching gives her opportunities to ad- vocate for Spain and its culture. “Since that’s where my experience is, it’ll always come through in what I’m talking about,” Leake said. Natalie Hoppes, a senior linguistics and Spanish major, said she appreciates Leake’s experience in and discussion of Spain and its culture. The two met through Spanish club last year, but they’ve continued to meet to practice Spanish and discuss Hoppes’ up- coming opportunity to study in Spain. “It really helps, having her as a kind of bridge or a broker between me, here, knowing nothing about Spain, and her hav- ing that experience in Spain,” Hoppes said. “She can really help me to transition by pro- viding all of that information.” Hoppes said Leake encourages others to step out and not be afraid of new activi- ties. She also recommends talking to Leake about studying abroad in Spain. “She can help get you set up with con- nections,” Hoppes said. Leake encourages others to get ex- perience internationally, whether that is through studying abroad or mission trips. She said that long-term trips are more help- ful in enabling a person to see the reality of a culture, but any trip is important. “It really opens your eyes to the world,” Leake said, “not just an isolated area that you’ve lived in all your life.” Rebekah Erway is a senior Christian edu- cation major and Campus News editor for Cedars. She enjoys odd numbers, Oxford commas, and speaking in a British accent. Photo provided Rachel Leake Rachel Leake stands in front of Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain.