This past winter, from December 31st to January 19th, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica. I had never left the United States before, so I was extremely nervous. I was going to study Spanish and live with a host family. Prior to this opportunity, I had barely studied the Spanish language. It was extremely intimidating, challenging, beautiful, interesting, and hands down the most positive experience of my entire life. One of the best elements of this experience was having the opportunity to work with Hilda, a Spanish language teacher. I spent five hours a day with Hilda studying the curriculum for Spanish 2. She challenged me every minute I was in the classroom. She also supported me and believed in me more than any educator I have ever had. This blew me away, as a senior in college, because of the fact that she did not even know me. On the fourth day in her classroom, we worked on an assignment that centered on verb conjugations. I got every question wrong on the worksheet. I felt embarrassed because this was not the first time I failed in Hilda's classroom, and I was not used to failing. In fact, I have spent my entire life striving to ensure that I succeeded at everything. It has been an impossible challenge to place on myself, but I had never failed as much as I did during my time in Hilda's classroom. On this particular day, when I got every question wrong on a 20 question worksheet, I broke down. I started to cry and I felt a lot of shame. Hilda looked at me and she said, "I know you are frustrated, but please do not cry. You are smart. You are capable. You just need more time. You are learning." I could not stop crying after she said this because I realized that she was right, yet no one had ever said that to me before. I have never been granted the space to fail, recognize my shortcomings, and continue again. Hilda helped me study Spanish, but she also helped me recognize the value of embodying a growth mindset. I wish I had learned this lesson sooner, but I plan to be a lifelong learner. Therefore, I am grateful to Hilda for influencing the person I am today and into the future. 

I have started a few projects that I am really proud of. The first project is called the Healthy Academics Toolkit with our campus University Health Services. This is a resource that offers evidence-based strategies and campus resources for faculty and instructors across the UW-Madison campus. I have worked to collect resources and format them for the website. I have also been working on a personal project of writing where I write about my life and my experiences. I am also working as a writing fellow and volunteer with the UW Madison Writing Center and the Driftless Writing Center, where we help writers and communities share their stories either through writing or oral histories.

In terms of plans for the future, I am at a point in my life where I do not know what is coming next. I have recently gotten extremely interested in writing, and I hope to find a career path that focuses on helping people gain access to resources, advocating for social issues, and that centers on writing and communication and am delighted to be collaborating with The Creative Process, sharing my own writing and stories from my university and community.