Hola, y’all

Pierce Hollier, who will start high school at Strake Jesuit this fall, scored high on the National Spanish Exam. He is pictured wearing his medal with St. Mark’s Episcopal School’s headmaster, Garhett Wagers.

I recently took the National Spanish Exam in our eighth-grade Spanish class at St. Mark’s Episcopal School. I scored third out of all testing eighth graders at my level in the United States. It has been an incredible journey learning Spanish over the years that I have been in school.

My entire class did well on the exam. I think this is most likely due to the fact that my school begins foreign-language instruction in kindergarten. I went from knowing nothing of the language to being able to carry on a conversation completely in Spanish. I really appreciate the work of all of the Spanish teachers at school. I also worked with a family friend who spoke to me only in Spanish and would carry me beyond what I was learning in the classroom.

From the first time I was introduced to the language, I absolutely loved it. I always came home and talked about it to my parents and practiced what I had learned. I have dedicated hours of my time outside of school to learning the language. The ability to continue my Spanish experience throughout my education has been a blessing and will continue to be, as I hope to take Spanish all through high school, and I plan to go to Costa Rica or Spain after my junior or senior year of high school.

Being immersed in the language is very important and is the final step to really becoming fluent. I certainly recognize the need to learn Spanish, as the United States is becoming increasingly more integrated. I want to be able to communicate with everyone I meet and understand them. It will also be a great tool to use during my adult life. I will most likely minor in Spanish in college since I hope to become a reconstructive surgeon and would prefer to not need a translator to communicate with my patients. Regardless of my career path, Spanish will always be a part of my life and what I do.

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