Junior Jade Poynter will be traveling to Oviedo, Spain during the summer of 2015 to help develop her language skills and learn their culture. She began her interest in Spanish when she spoke Spanish for the first time in the sixth grade, around this time she realized she was very passionate when it came to the spanish language. She loved their culture, she loved listening and speaking it. She thought Spanish was such a beautiful language.

Poynter believes that this experience will be a benefit for her, because after high school she plans to major in speech and language pathology, the study of people and culture, and minor in Spanish. In that field, there are Hispanics who do not understand English, so she believes that with this experience, she will be able to help translate. Poynter believes  that spending time in Spain will also help her better appreciate and understand their culture.

“I know it will be worth it, because you’re never going to get fluent in a language until you are completely immersed in that country,” Poynter said. “Because I’m so passionate about this, it’s going to make me the type of speaker I want to be. It’s going to make me appreciate their culture so much more being there.”

It cost Poynter almost over six thousand dollars. Being an average income family, that is a lot of money, Poynter says. However, with everything she has learned about what she will be doing, she believes it’s all worth it. Everybody wants to see the world, and this trip is the beginning of seeing the world, Poynter says. Even if an individual doesn’t speak a language that well after going through it, they will be okay, according to Poynter.

She is looking forward to taking the excursion. Poynter is excited to see the city, go to different restaurants and try different foods. She feels lucky to be going to Spain because she was able to see senior Jensen Smith going through it and now she will be going through it too.

“I feel really lucky to get this opportunity, because I was really close to Jensen and I saw him go through it,” Poynter said. “I never thought I would get to do something like this. I couldn’t be happier that this is happening to me.”