Meet Alison, a senior at Hampshire College

The following is an computer-generated summary of the video transcript.

-Hi, my name is Alison Smith,and I'm a Div III or senior.at Hampshire College studyingEducation Policy.I'm also getting my teacher licensurein Early Childhood Educationthrough Hampshire Collegeat Mount Holyoke College.For the 2020 to 2021 school year,I decided to stay living on campuswith my dog Violet,who loves all of the wildlifeon campus.Like this chipmunk she foundin a tree hole the other day.-Oh, wow.10-I wanted to let youwatch a time-lapse11to begin the videowith what it looks12like to be a Hampshire Collegestudent studying from a remote dorm,13which is obviously very differentthan traveling to classes14in person and being ableto have that kind of interaction.15At Hampshire College,every Division III students,16otherwise known as seniors,17will create a senior thesisor Div III thesis project18that serves as a culminationof all of their work at Hampshire.19When I was a freshman,I was really interested20in studying languageand cultures.21By my second year at Hampshire,I was beginning to develop22a really deep interest in education,23both internationallyand domestically.24Last year, I was acceptedinto the teacher licensure25Early Childhood Education Programat Mount Holyoke College nearby.26I also received the Culture, Brain,and Development grant in order27to help me financially in continuinga free tutoring project28that I was doing for families29that had sought intervention servicesthrough public schools that year.30This was especially important workbecause of COVID and the restrictions31that families feltaround remote learning32and access to quality educationand equitable education.33This year for my Div III thesis work,I'm both going to be student teaching34and creating a filmaround the subjects that interest me.35Coming into college, I was reallyinterested in linguistics, languages,36and other cultures37because I had goneto an international baccalaureate38school.39My freshman year of college,I took Arabic and was able to pick up40some Arabic that you could see meusing in this video.41That was part of oneof my final presentations.42[Arabic language]43Although I would certainly not saythat I'm fluent in Arabic44after only a few semestersof studying the language,45I would definitely saythat my five college experience46through Hampshirewas able to give me47a lot of opportunities to studyother languages48at a much more intense capacitythan I think most students49get to experiencein their undergraduate years.50You can compare my accentand my confidence in the Arabic51that I learned with this short clipof me speaking French.52Keep in mind, French is the languagethat I studied53at least eight years prior to comingto college at Hampshire.54[French language].55This is Holyoke Massachusetts locatedonly a half an hour drive outside56of Hampshire's campus.57Holyoke, Massachusetts is also hometo the second-largest population58of Puerto Rican people outsideof mainland Puerto Rico.59It was here that I became interestedin learning Spanish60because I wanted to domy student teaching here61and be able to really engage62with English language learnersin the classroom.63Here I'm getting on Duolingo,a language learning app,64which I use to help meto prepare for being in front65of a classroomwith both Spanish dominant66and English dominant students.67Did you know that Duolingowas actually co-founded68by a Hampshire College alum?69Here, you can see me practicingmy Spanish grammar70and thinking about how it associateswith English71and what parallels there arebetween the languages.72My Spanish speaking is certainlya work in progress,73and my accent is not perfect,but the five college consortium74gave me a lot of confidenceto continue to learn on my own,75which I really value.76-Esta cerca del restaurant de hora.77-Esta cerca del restaurant de hora.78Just before my senior yearat Hampshire,79I got on a plane to go outto Colorado.80It's really the self-driven natureof Hampshire College academics81that I can attribute to giving methe confidence82to feel like I can go outsideof my comfort zone83and visit placesI've never been to before.84I'm really gladthat I went on this trip85and that I considered,86I guess was spending timein a place very different87than anywhere I'd ever been.88Because now, I'm actually considering89going out to Coloradofor graduate school.90If you're like me at alland very interested in cultures91and languages differentthan your own,92Hampshire Collegehas ample opportunities93to either study abroad or studywithin the US domestically94and to be able to traveland visit other places with funding.