As the year kicks off on a fresh, new start at Papillion LaVista highschool, some students have been willing to broaden their minds and take a spin at learning new languages via the courses offered at their own school. Regardless of whether it’s French, German, Spanish, or—obviously—English, anyone would be hard-pressed to find absolutely no linguistic diversity here at PLHS.
Foreign language classes tend to be a popular academic decision amongst few students, not only because of the daily benefits that come with it, but also because of the college credits that foreign language classes offer.
One student taking Spanish two is rather optimistic to get the chance to step outside his boundaries and potentially become fluently bilingual, and a little smarter, in the process.
“When I first transitioned to high school, I was pretty apprehensive about it,” freshman Robin Mcdowell said. “But things started getting better as the year went on, especially in my Spanish class.”
School isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and Mcdowell is no exception, but he has found his Spanish class to be the highlight of his day.
“I took Spanish one in eighth grade, and wanted to pursue it further as I went into ninth,” Mcdowell said. “Not only would I be able to speak two languages–fluently, I hope–but the college credits would also look good when I go to graduate.”
For Patricia Savala, her choice to take a foreign language class is less about general academic concerns and more about her own personal interest.
“I dread school itself, but when I heard that our school offers French courses, I was excited,” freshman Patricia Savala said. “It was hard at first, but I’ve learned to like it a lot.”
If personal interest wasn’t enough of an incentive to take different dialect courses, Savala began to realize that taking her courses would help her future.
“I hope to get into college one day, so I hope taking French will help with that,” Savala said.
To Savala and Mcdowell, school has its ups and downs, but the one thing that stays consistent for the both of them is their satisfaction with their language courses. Be it a matter of simple preference to potential college benefits, French, German, Spanish, and world language itself opens a world of opportunities to the students that are willing to explore it.
