“One thing that’s really important to know about Middlebury is that when someone tells you that the program is really intense, that’s a huge understatement,” Doane said. “But the stress is worth it. With the language hostage, even if we relax and hang out with friends, our mind works overtime. We should all take advantage of every minute, every hour, every conversation, every event, because it all adds value to our experience and learning.”
The summer program is an opportunity for Doane, who worked for the Campus Vote Project as Virginia’s state coordinator after graduation, to brush up on the Spanish she used every day during a semester in Argentina.
“When I came back from my semester abroad, my Spanish was great, but unfortunately, I didn’t use it much during the pandemic. The ultimate goal is to become fluent in Spanish and eventually I would like to learn Quechua (the indigenous language spoken by the Quechua people in South America), French and possibly Portuguese,” she said. “Improving my Spanish opens a lot of doors for me in what I can do both professionally and personally.”
Doane enjoys learning languages because she can see and understand the world through a different lens, she said.
“It’s important to learn about the culture, history, society and politics of a country and community for their local perspective, and it’s ideal to do it in the native language there to really understand the message,” she said.
Doane wants to use Spanish to support human rights work
Doane’s participation in the Spanish summer program is funded by a Kathryn Davis Fellows for Peace scholarship, which she received in February.
“The scholarship is highly competitive and a merit-based scholarship awarded to students who demonstrate a strong background in peace work or conflict resolution,” she said. “For the essay application, I had to describe my experiences to contribute to more peaceful relations between people, institutions or communities and how improving my Spanish will help me mediate conflicts in the future.” VCU’s National Scholarship Office supported Doane throughout the application process.
She wants to use her Spanish to support human rights work both within US borders and abroad.
“Right now, I’m particularly interested in the intersection of immigrant and labor rights. Knowing Spanish can help me be an advocate for migrants who are in unfair working conditions or are being exploited,” she said. “I want to be able to create spaces for Spanish speakers who are marginalized so that they to feel supported and cared for.”
During her semester in Argentina, Doane conducted research on the history of race relations with an emphasis on Afro-Argentine and African migrant experiences. She also studied how communities can be destabilized when police are not held accountable for committing violent acts against racial minorities.
After returning to the US, Doane used the peacekeeping methods he learned in Argentina during the 2020 protests in Richmond following the death of George Floyd.
“I was horrified to witness my community being torn apart by tear gas and rubber bullets amid calls to end police violence against black Americans. I shared resources to make sure protesters knew their rights, how to stay safe and what to do if they were arrested,” she said. “My involvement was a direct result of lessons learned in Argentina about the critical importance of dissemination of accurate, actionable information, and the power of history in healing and reconciliation.”
Volunteering as a student at VCU helped Doane focus her interests
During her time at VCU, Doane, who was a student in the Honors College and the VCU Globe, interned for the Witness for Peace Southeast and Highland Support Project. She was a member of the Democracy for Campus Voting Project and founder of the nonpartisan VCU Votes Student Coalition. She planned and moderated the panel International Perspectives on Politics and Elections, an event for the Globe, with a panel of students from Yemen, Estonia, India, Lebanon, Togo and Tunisia.
She also volunteered with the Sacred Heart Center, an organization that supports Richmond’s Latino community through adult education programs, and was a student ambassador for the Honors College.
One of her mentors at VCU was the late Herbert Hirsch, Ph.D., a political science professor under whom she completed an independent study in 2018. Doane credits Hirsch with encouraging her to look for some of the unique opportunities she has pursued.
“I ended up doing the SIT Argentina: Human Rights and Social Movements program based in Buenos Aires, and it really changed the course of my life and who I am today,” said Doane. “If I hadn’t had the opportunity to work with him, I’m not sure if I would have taken the plunge and completed the program or continued to pursue my dreams as I am now. He was a tremendous mentor.”
Doane is currently seeking work in Latin America where she can focus on indigenous and immigrant rights.
“Ideally, I would like to live and work abroad for at least a year, ideally two. Then, I want to go back to the US and start my Ph.D. maybe in ethnic studies or socio-cultural anthropology,” she said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve realized that I can really see myself as a professor later down the road, but for now, a Ph.D. I am more interested because I like to learn and research fascinates me.”
Students interested in applying for scholarship and scholarship opportunities to engage in language study are encouraged to contact the National Scholarship Office for support in exploring and applying for such opportunities.
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