Junior Experience: Argentina

Seventeen students embarked for Buenos Aires, Argentina this summer, with faculty chaperones Courtney Itson (US History) and Malia LeMond (US Spanish) as their leaders. The students spent their mornings in language and culture classes at the Academia Buenos Aires, and then lunched together before heading out for cultural excursions in the afternoon, which included biking through the city, learning the tango, making empanadas, and visiting different neighborhoods. Courtney says, “The students enjoyed the experiential learning. For example, they’d spend the morning in class learning about the cultural significance of the tango, then they’d take tango lessons in the afternoon.” Click here to view some of their photos from the trip!

Though this was not a service trip, community service activities were part of the cultural outings. For one of these, students went to a church to feed the homeless. Malia remarks, “Our students were amazing and were totally engaged in this activity. They had a lot of great conversations (in Spanish!) with many of the people they were feeding. In the student evaluations, this was listed as a favorite activity.” The second service activity involved tutoring youths at a community center in math, English, and history. Student Natalie Ozor ‘17 was very interested in how the kids there had learned certain math skills, in particular the way they did division.

Free time enabled students to explore the city independently as well. Malia explains, “One of the ways we got the students to learn their way around the city was to take them to different places for cultural activities and then let them figure out how to get home (we did provide basic instructions and they had already been given a lesson on using the subway). They were really good at it and learned to rely on each other and work together. Student Tyler Kinney ‘16 said, ‘I love how you take us places and leave us there.’ This is my favorite student quote from the trip!”

After experiencing some free time in the evenings, students returned to their “senoras”: the women who opened their homes to visiting students. Malia remarks, “Visiting the host mothers in the evenings when we made our rounds to check on students was one of my favorite things to do. It was evident that the host moms really took a genuine interest in the students and loved having them in their homes. Charlie and Ethan's host mom, Beba, was particularly fond of ‘her boys.’ She called Charlie the ‘Presidente’ and Ethan the ‘Gaucho.’”

Their final cultural activity was a cooking class for making empanadas, followed by a farewell dinner during which Courtney and Malia handed out prizes recognizing each student's contribution to the trip. Each student was given a superlative reflecting characteristics like positivity, independence, engagement, compassion, consideration for others, and leadership.

Reflecting on the students’ experience, Courtney says, “The best part was seeing their growth over the three weeks; not just their language skills, but their confidence in themselves, being able to navigate the city on their own.” But their confidence and independence did not make them any less cautious or caring, as Courtney notes, “They seemed influenced by the culture of respect there. They looked out for each other, walked each other home. They showed real maturity and kindness towards each other.”

Malia agrees that the students’ growth was both intellectual and emotional. She says, “Every day students showed their willingness to use Spanish and be open to new people, activities, and ideas. The Spanish in Buenos Aires is different from the Spanish the students usually encounter in the classroom. They had to learn new words and ways to pronounce certain words. They adapted to this very well.” When the students themselves were asked to provide feedback on the trip, Malia says, “The majority of the students felt their Spanish improved a lot, and many felt the challenges they faced and overcame (learning to live and get around in a big city, use the subway, and speak Spanish all the time) really made them feel more independent and confident as people.”
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