Highlights

During my undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I studied abroad twice in Barcelona, Spain. These experiences allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the Spanish language and culture which is something I hope to share with my students.

During my masters program, I conducted research on second language acquisition of Spanish, specifically focusing on the acquisition of morphology. As a teacher, I use my in-depth knowledge of linguistics and language acquisition to provide effective and engaging learning opportunities for my students.

As a masters student, I was elected to represent the graduate students on the curriculum committee in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I later established a research team of graduate students for this committee that investigated trends in student enrollment.

I was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from the fall of 2013 until the spring of 2015 and I taught 100 and 200-level courses in the Spanish department. Each semester, I was ranked as Excellent by my students, an honor presented by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. The lists for "Teachers Ranked As Excellent" can be found at the following link.

While completing my masters degree in Spanish linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I spent extended periods of time immersing myself in Latin American culture in order to expand my linguistic and cultural knowledge. Some of the places I traveled to include Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia.