AUTUMN RITTER
Minnesota State University - Mankato, Class of 2022

interaction, and many customers would come to me for help since I was the very first person they saw when entering the store.

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The Restore had an extremely diverse customer base, whether it was in regard to age, gender, ethnicity, or language. In particular, many of the customers spoke Spanish. Although communication seemed intimidating at first, I eventually was able to find the confidence to use my Spanish-speaking abilities to interact and answer any questions they had. Mostly, there were questions about the locations of various items within the Restore, and it was difficult for me to communicate at first because there are a lot of items within the Restore that I didn't have the Spanish vocabulary to describe; however, I was able to overcome this challenge by finding alternative ways to describe that particular object by either describing the characteristics of the objects or the intended use of the object. Once I determined the object they were looking for or they understood the object I was describing, I was then able to communicate where to find the object.

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I strongly believe that this initiative to use my Spanish education to communicate was a huge milestone in both my global citizenship achievement and my language development as a Spanish speaker. Having the confidence to use these skills will make it easier for me to take this same initiative in the future, which serves not only as an asset to myself, but also to the people I am trying to communicate with. I will be better able to fulfill their needs or wants, but most importantly, I can help them feel more comfortable, more accepted, and more appreciated. It was obvious when I began speaking Spanish to these customers that it meant a lot to them; most individuals were visibly happier and more relaxed. In my opinion, this is one of the most important aspects of global citizenship. People vary so much across cultures, languages, races, etc., and it is easy to feel alienated by these differences when interacting with those from other backgrounds. However, by working to become more knowledgeable and more interactive with other cultures, we are able to close the gap of differences and better embrace our connections as human beings.

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As far as my background of Spanish education goes, I took six years of Spanish throughout middle and high school, where I learned a lot of the basic skills for language development. We did participate in a lot of language immersion at this time as well, where we solely communicated in Spanish for the entirety of the academic year. To continue this education, I continued Spanish courses into college, where I placed into Spanish 202. Similar to my higher-level high school courses, this class was conducted solely in Spanish, and was primarily conversation and culture-based. The combination of my high school and collegiate Spanish language education provided me with the foundational knowledge of the cultural differences present in the Spanish language, as well as allowed me to practice my communication in a comfortable setting.

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This real-world utilization of my language capabilities at the Habitat for Humanity Restore helped me become more self-aware of my citizenship in a country (and culture) of such diversity and helped me mentally break down barriers that may have previously prevented me from an interaction of this capacity. In addition, it broadened my experience and knowledge of Spanish culture and language, and helped me to become more eager to seek out future interactions with members of this culture as well. Lastly, this experience allowed me to have everyday interactions with Spanish speakers outside of the classroom, in which I could use my abilities to communicate. Although Habitat for Humanity had become a familiar place for me - and the customers had become familiar faces - the use of my Spanish language skills was still an unfamiliar situation at the time. Regardless, my time spent volunteering there definitely helped me become more comfortable using my language skills in the "real world", and this is something I will continuously build on and use as much as possible in everyday life.

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Attached is a copy of a project completed for Spanish 202 to provide further insights to my various experiences with Spanish language development. For this project, we were tasked with writing a script to a short film, equipped with a soundtrack and cast.