Kirsten Agla worked hard during her time at Keene State. In addition to earning a B.S. in Sustainable Product Design and Innovation (SPDI), she earned a B.A. in Spanish from the Modern Languages and Culture department. Her intense efforts paid off.
“I was enrolled in the Morris-August Honors Program, received the Peter H. Batchelder Scholarship for the Humanities two years in a row, and made the Dean’s list every semester,” she explained recently.
One memorable experience while studying Spanish at KSC was her academic time abroad.
“I studied at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador for one semester in my sophomore year as part of the Spanish degree, and found that language and cultural immersion was key to becoming fluent in the language.”
Kirsten noted that her financial aid package was flexible enough to allow her to use some of these funds for her travel expenses.
“The fact that financial aid carried over to study abroad made it affordable to travel, and I would never have had such a life changing experience without KSC.”
Currently attending graduate school at Boston College, Kirsten reflects on the importance of the faculty in the Modern Languages and Culture department in preparing her for advanced study at a top-notch school.
“The Modern Languages department was especially influential on my education, and I felt supported and inspired by the professors, particularly Stephen Hawes, Barbara Ware, and Lisa DiGiovanni. The background I received from their classes prepared me for graduate school-level work.”
Double-majoring in SPDI and Spanish was no accident. Kirsten hopes to join her interest in sustainability with her years of language study after her graduate program is complete.
“I am currently in my final year of a M.A program in Hispanic Studies at Boston College. As part of a Teaching Fellowship, I teach Elementary Spanish to undergraduates and take graduate classes that cover topics such as Latin American Documentary, Spanish Poetry, and the Spanish Civil War. Ideally, after graduation I would combine SPDI and Spanish and work for a green company with offices in Spain and/or Latin America.”