Senior Nia Rae' Echols is a Spanish major and Entrepreneurship minor at U-M, driven by a passion for language and multicultural communication. Initially enrolling in the School of Kinesiology and then transferring to Biology, Health, and Society, she ultimately discovered her true passion within the Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL) department.
“With being in the school of LSA I had to fulfill a language requirement, so I decided to take Spanish classes to satisfy those,” Nia Rae' said. “I thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish classes that I took and on the other hand, the pre-dental/BHS classes, not so much. Although it was difficult to pivot not once, but twice, I am more happy and confident now with my decision than I ever was with my other alternatives.”
Nia Rae' now enjoys the connection between Spanish and entrepreneurship because she believes that communication is necessary for entrepreneurship. Within the field of entrepreneurship, she has found that speaking more than one language is something to be valued.
“Between Spanish and Entrepreneurship I find that it is a wonderful duo,” Nia Rae' said. “The ability to connect and network across the nation, as well as internationally in a bilingual fashion using both English and Spanish dismissing the need of an outside source to translate is extremely beneficial in a professional environment.”
One of Nia Rae's favorite Spanish courses thus far has been Spanish 230: Intensive 2nd Year Spanish with Carolina Purdy. She said that Carolina was a fantastic professor who made the class an “amazing time.” The class reinforced the building blocks of the Spanish language for her, developing a foundation to dive more in-depth into different topics in the future.
In addition to taking classes through RLL, Nia Rae' worked at an internship called “En Nuestra Lengua” this past summer. “En Nuestra Lengua” is a nonprofit organization created by RLL professor Teresa Satterfield to develop and maintain the Spanish academic skills of native speakers and bilingual children.
“It was a great way for me to practice my writing, speaking, and Spanish comprehension skills, while assisting with the mission of “En Nuestra Lengua,” Nia Rae' said. “Overall, it was a rewarding experience to work with the kids and to recognize that I played a part in their education.”
Nia Rae' would highly recommend that anyone pursue a major or minor in Spanish. After giving Spanish classes a try, she has grown to love RLL so much that she now plans to get a masters in Spanish and one day become a professor. Additionally, Nia Rae’ would like to study abroad in Alicante in the summer.
“If you truly find delight in the language, the sound, the sentence formation, the culture, then don’t hesitate,” Nia Rae' said. “It’s a wonderful skill and without a doubt you can find use for it. One of the most helpful pieces of advice I’d give is that if you’re struggling with stringing together ideas and words to formulate sentences when trying to interact with others, practice thinking in Spanish. When you’re by yourself, walking, working, relaxing, translate your thoughts and actively think in Spanish. You’ll find that with consistent practice of this processing tactic, speaking will become more natural, thus much quicker and you’ll have a significantly better flow.”
