Framingham State hosts first campus tour entirely in Spanish

By Bella Grimaldi News Editor

By Avery Slavin Asst. News Editor The first campus tours conducted only in Spanish were led by two students from the World Languages department on April 28. Twenty-eight students from Framingham High School participated in these tours, led by juniors Daryanys Manche and Mariela López. Each of them led a group of 14 high schoolers. Manche and López were selected by Inés Vañó García, professor of Spanish & Linguistics. Vañó García said she picked them from her class this semester. This class is focused on students perfecting their conversation skills in formal and informal settings. Vañó García added she values experience-based learning for students and has been looking for ways to connect to the community. She said the collaboration with Framingham High School started with Manche and López and another student, Valentina Gaviria, giving presentations on April 14 about their experiences and the importance of studying Spanish in academia. Through a Civic Engagement mini-grant by the University, they were able to invite the high schoolers onto campus, said Vañó García. She said the Office of Admissions was “really helpful” preparing Manche and López for the tour. Vañó García said they provided resources, such as a link to information from when the office could not run campus tours during COVID-19. “They came to one of our classes. They gave us a lot of information. They were able to also provide some of the material for the students.” Manche said since she transferred to FSU a year ago and is a commuter, she went on a campus tour on April 27 to prepare. She said she used that experience to decide what aspects of campus to focus on and how to broaden her tour to include the interests of the group. While the tour was not run by the Admissions Office, they are “incredibly happy this tour took place,” according to Assistant Director of Admissions Kirsten Hoey. She said she “sees it as a meaningful step in exploring how we can make our campus visit experience more accessible and welcoming to all populations. With so many Spanish-speaking students attending and considering FSU, it’s so important that we create opportunities for students and their families to fully experience our campus and community.” Vañó García said she would like to continue having campus tours in languages other than English, which Hoey agreed is something Admissions is interested in doing. Vañó García said she wants to develop an internship opportunity for World Languages students to fill the position of a tour guide. “There is some money through the Mancuso Center - the Humanities Center - where we as faculty have been able to apply for some funding to rethink and redesign some of the internship opportunities that we have in our programs,” said Vañó García. She said this would be an avenue for students who are commuters or need a job. Hoey said over the past few years, she has worked with ASL professor Angela Herbert and held information sessions and tours with her senior ASL interpreting students. “These students have had the opportunity to practice their interpreting while out on tour, and our visiting students and families have loved getting to see our students in action,” she said. López said the opportunity to lead the tour meant a lot to her, because on one of her visits to FSU, she brought her dad, who “just speaks Spanish. So, he didn't have the opportunity to connect with the school, which was a little bit sad. “I know there was so much information that I wanted him to know about the school, but I couldn't give it to him,” she said. “Knowing that we could do that for the students - that was a great experience.” Vañó García said, “Not all the parents or family members speak English or feel confident speaking English in front of people. So making these tours or information more accessible to that type of population, I think is really important.” Hoey said, “We know how important campus visits are in the college search process, and want to ensure all family members are getting the information they need to make the most informed decision on whether FSU is the right choice for them.” Vañó García said the FSU student body is changing, especially with the rise of the Hispanic student population. While most of these students speak English, having tours and resources available in Spanish would make Framingham State more accessible for them. López said Margalida Massanet-Andre, the Framingham High School teacher who collaborated with Vañó García, invited her and Manche back to shadow a class next year. Massanet-Andre said, “It was an amazing experience for our students to see the academic opportunities they have in their own community and get to know and spend time with FSU students. Truly worth it - they were thrilled.” One of the high school students on the tour said, “I liked the campus, the organization of the event, and the overall experience.” Two students said they wished they had more time at the University, and they would have liked to have seen more of the campus buildings. One high schooler said, “I really liked the food they gave us and seeing the gym!” Another student said, “I liked the Dunkin’ and the restaurants that they explained to us.” Two students said they loved their experience, and the tour of Framingham State’s campus felt like walking through a city. Another high schooler said, “The teachers and the girls on the tour were super kind to us.” One student said, “What I liked the most about the field trip was the tour they gave us around the University. We had seen many places and experienced a little bit of what life at FSU is like.” Hoey said she is “excited to continue working with Professor Vañó García to see how we can make Spanish tours a more consistent thing.”