Student club, degree minor, scholarships available for students
Many people feel divided by their differences in today’s society, but the World Language and Culture Association at SWOSU is wanting to learn from other peoples’ experiences.
The student club meets virtually through Zoom, and they often have guests from other countries share their experiences.
At their most recent meeting, Hydro foreign exchange student Maddalena Gianaroli spoke with the group and shared her experiences in Italy.
After discussing some of the biggest educational and cultural differences, World Language Club members were invited to ask Giannaroli questions about life in Europe.
Several SWOSU students asked about festivals and holidays in Italy, and Giannaroli said, “We eat a lot of food, because that is what Italians like to do.” She explained how one holiday revolves around eating all day with family and friends and then ending the day with a bon fire at night.
“We want to promote diversity, language and culture at SWOSU,” Dr. Tugba Sevin said after the World Languages Club meeting. Dr. Sevin is the faculty sponsor of the student club, and she teaches multiple foreign language classes at SWOSU.
“It’s like traveling virtually to Europe,” Dr. Sevin said of her online classes. She makes a point to ensure classes and the World Language Club are offered online to promote languages in southwest Oklahoma. “We want to reach out to everyone from every part of life,” she said.
Dr. Sevin gave an example of the benefits of studying foreign languages by sharing the story of one of her students. Landon Santa-Pinter traveled to Crete to study, and he was Dr. Sevin’s first student to travel to her home nation for learning abroad. Dr. Sevin said she saw Santa-Pinter grow from “shy and quiet” to “very confident.” Santa-Pinter also agreed that the trip was transformative for him.
This year there are 80 students enrolled in the World Languages program, and Dr. Sevin was impressed with this interest. “I’m very happy to see we have so many students supporting us and SWOSU supporting us,” she said.
Although the program is growing, Dr. Sevin wants to see more students enroll in the program and learn about other cultures and languages. One way this can be made possible is through financial aid.
While SWOSU offers a variety of scholarships for students, there is one that is specifically for students earning a World Languages minor provided by a collaborative effort from the Weatherford Rotary Club and the SWOSU Foundation.
The two groups are working together to provide one world languages student with a scholarship each semester. Only one scholarship is available each semester, but Dr. Sevin is looking for opportunities to expand the scholarship. She said community members and businesses who want to support the world languages program can choose to have a scholarship named for them.
Dr. Sevin said this program not only benefits students by providing them with opportunities to learn about other cultures, but it also may lead to benefits in future careers for students. She said students only need to take a total of 5 classes to earn the minor at SWOSU, so she said it is “really very easy” and the program can help “open the door to the world.”
The club has no participation or membership fees, and SWOSU students are welcome to join at any time. Community members are also invited to keep up with the club by following their Facebook page at World Languages at SWOSU or join the group for one of their monthly meetings.