Sometimes it helps if parents are ambitious. At least that’s what Sophia Gliatto’s experience has shown.
“My parents are both general practitioners in New York and have a large proportion of Spanish-speaking patients, even though they never learned the language – at least not fluently.”
“They emphasized the importance of learning Spanish at a young age and motivated me to continue to improve my language skills each school year.”
Gliatto, who grew up inner-city, attended Learning Community Charter School and High Tech High School.
Now, Sophia, who will graduate from Oberlin College in 2024, is heading to Mexico on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship thanks to her parents’ encouragement. Gliatto graduated with a double major in Hispanic and Comparative American Studies.
“I will be teaching English at the Universidad Tecnológica de Tabasco and living in the city of Villahermosa, the capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco,” she said. She has studied relations between the United States and Mexico “from a historical, social, political and cultural perspective” and now wants to understand the relationship “from the other side of the border,” she says.
Gliatto says teaching English will be “a really big challenge since my experience is mostly teaching Spanish.” She adds, “I’m looking forward to building a personal connection with my students in language classes.”
Gliatto previously spent a semester abroad in Argentina, where he took a philosophy course and taught philosophy to students at a local elementary school.
The Fulbright Program was founded in 1946 by US Senator J. William Fulbright and is considered one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the USA. The program awards around 8,000 scholarships each year.
