Kate Bundy
Kennesaw State University
Spring 2010
I feel honored to be considered for this wonderful award, and I would be happy to
share some of my contributions to my field of Modern Languages and Culture – Spanish
Education!
Since my first year at KSU as an honors joint-enrollment student, I knew that I
wanted to be a Spanish teacher. I continued in the Honors program and began taking
Education courses as well as Spanish language courses starting with Critical Reading &
Applied Writing (3200). After my first year at Kennesaw, I knew that I needed to
continue practicing my Spanish and earning credit abroad for the summer. I traveled to
Spain with Augusta State University for 6 weeks and took 3 intensive Spanish language
and culture courses at the University of Salamanca. Visiting all over Spain, I became
fascinated with Spanish culture, and increasingly interested in the effects of study abroad
in second language acquisition. I returned the following semester to continue taking
Education, Spanish, Foreign Language Education, and Honor’s courses.
In the summer of 2008, I traveled to Madrid, Spain because I was hired as a
private English and classical piano tutor to a Spanish family. To fulfill more of my
honor’s credit, I designed a course collaborated with Dr. Judy Holzman (TESOL director)
entitled “HON 4499:Teaching English as a Foreign Language.” Together, we designed a
syllabus and a final product to present before the FLED faculty the following semester.
After 6 weeks of teaching English and traveling to various sites in Spain, I took a flight to
Chile for a study abroad trip through KSU on Dr. Ernesto Silva’s recommendation. In La
Serena, Chile, I took courses in Practical Conversation, Chilean Culture and
Controversial Mexican Film. In addition to my course work and my trip to Chile, I was
working closely with Dr. Ernesto Silva and Dr. Nancy Hoalst-Pullen as a full-time
research assistant to the CETL CARET grant, a cross-cultural research study on the
effects of natural environment to one’s culture. Before traveling to Chile, I had been
heavily researching the grant and Chilean history in addition to working with Dr. Silva
and Dr. Hoalst-Pullen to create and translate surveys. In several sites both in Chile and in
Georgia, I distributed hundreds of surveys and also conducted filmed interviews with
local citizens using my Spanish language and International Research Board skills. The
project continued for over a year in traveling to several sites in Georgia to gather data,
and finally presenting the data to several conferences including Conference of the
Americas, Language Week, Geography Week and the KSU Honor’s Symposium in the
Spring of 2009.
Upon arriving back to KSU in the Fall of 2008, I received word that the Center
for Hispanic Studies was looking for a KSU Student Ambassador of Spain to work as a
liaison of the Spanish Embassy to the KSU student population to promote Spanish
culture, language and study abroad. I enthusiastically applied and was awarded the
position for the year of 2008-2009. I took the position very seriously and continued to
work closely with Dr. Ernesto Silva, a Senior Fellow at the CHS, to create, plan,
organize, and communicate with embassy and KSU officials. From October 2008-April
2009, I hosted at least one event per month including Spanish poetry battles, Spanish card
games with traditional food, study abroad and employment information meetings with
local Embassy representative Eva Martinez, Coffee houses with Spanish music videos, a
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Surrealism film night with Tom Pynn, Associate Professor of Philosophy & History,
introducing the idea of Surrealism & Luis Bunuel, and the first-ever Spanish Short Film
Festival, in which more than 250 students and faculty were in attendance! After each
event, I had to write a formal report to the Embassy in Spanish and document the number
in attendance, the materials used, and submit photos and videos of the event. I remained
in close contact with my advisor and supervisor from the Spanish Embassy throughout
my duties.
In the same semester, Spring of 2009, Dr. Silva and I created an Honors Directed
Study entitled: HON 4400: Spanish film 1950s. We designed the syllabus according to
the availability of the rare films, and met once a week to watch and discuss Spanish films
from each decade as well as its context in Spanish history. Also, this valuable class time
was the inspiration for hosting the film events in conjunction with my Embassy position
at KSU.
In May of 2009, Dr. Silva and I were invited to attend the national Study in Spain
business meeting in Boston. Only 10 out of 51 student ambassadors were invited to
attend, and only one of the student ambassadors and their advisor was going to be
awarded a free trip to Spain based on their performance in the last year. After the rest of
the 9 ambassadors were called up to receive their award for participation, I was selected
as the student ambassador of the year for the United States! I had to give an impromptus
acceptance speech, in which I highlighted Dr. Silva’s and my collaboration in hosting
several creative and successful events at KSU, and my personal enthusiasm for study
abroad in Spain. Several news articles about the meeting and my award were released in
Spain and in the United States. Shortly after winning the award, I arranged a personal trip
to Spain to meet several of my ancestors in Galicia. For the rest of the 6 weeks, I traveled
all over Spain staying with friends and family, practicing Spanish and becoming even
more comfortable as a frequent visitor in Spain.
In the Fall of 2009, I began a challenging semester of TOSS (preliminary student
teaching for FLED), and Spanish Senior Seminar. I received high marks on my
professional evaluations for student teaching, and earned an A in the course. My final
presentation for Senior Seminar was a deconstruction of a Cuban post-revolutionary film
and novel entitled: Sergio: ‘Sir Ego’ y su critica desde el interior en ‘Memorias del
subdesarrollo’. In the same semester, I managed to apply for a Fulbright scholarship to
teach English in Spain for the following year, and I also applied for admission to the
Masters of Education: Teaching Additional Languages (Spanish Education) at the
University of Georgia. I was accepted the program less than three weeks later.
On December 11, 2009, Dr. Ernesto Silva and I took our trip to Madrid, Spain as
our award from the Study in Spain program sponsored by the Embassy. We remained in
Madrid for 7 days and continued to gather cultural materials and experiences to bring
back to KSU for future student ambassadors and cultural events. After our trip had ended,
I remained in Spain for another 3 weeks and traveled to a small rural village in
Extremadura, Spain, to spend Christmas and New Year’s with friends. During my stay
there, I helped out with a short film sponsored by the Caja de Extremadura, and I am also
in the process of writing a future short film in collaboration with the Cinesta Film
Association to be filmed both in Spain and in the United States.
My overall academic performance is numerically measured by a 3.8 GPA:
including all A’s in Spanish, Education, FLED, and Honor’s courses. I was inducted ito
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the National Spanish Honor’s Society at the end of last semester, and I have been a
member of the KSU Spanish Club since my freshman year. This semester, I am
completing my Student Teaching at Kell High School, and writing my Senior Capstone
project for the Honor’s program. I hope to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to teach
abroad next year and to continue with my graduate studies both abroad and at the
University of Georgia.
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