By Madonna Borde ’21, staff writer
Jennifer Lopez, a senior speech language pathology (SLP) and Spanish double major, has successfully used her personal background and passions to fuel her experiences at LVC.
Lopez originally started at LVC as an exercise science major and planned to work her way into physical therapy, like so many others, because she has lifelong personal and familial experiences with physical therapy. However, after talking to a friend and her advisor, she decided to switch lanes while staying in the medical field, like she knew she wanted to do, during her sophomore year.
As for her Spanish major, Lopez’s parents are fully Ecuadorian, so she grew up in a Spanish-speaking home. Unfortunately, growing up bilingual, Lopez felt like an “other” in her community. As a result, she didn’t want to learn Spanish but now, in college, has fully embraced her culture.
“I’m a bilingual student, and I don’t need a degree in my language,” Lopez said.
Lopez has one more year in the master’s program, and then, she will be a certified bilingual speech language pathologist, which is a rare position and in high demand. While she does plan on utilizing her Spanish, that bilingualism can also extend to include things such as American Sign Language (ASL), which Lopez also knows. As a matter of fact, she started the ASL club on campus in her junior year.
Lopez is also very involved on campus in many other areas. For example, during her undergrad, she was involved in the Global Ed club and Sports Medicine Society. Currently, she’s a Study Abroad and Valley Ambassador, under which she is a Valley Volunteer Coordinator.
Additionally, she’s a member of the Alpha Sigma Tau sorority and has held six student worker positions around campus.
“I think I worked almost every area except Metz,” Lopez said.
Off campus, Lopez has traveled abroad three times. The first time was in her sophomore year when she was in Dr. Matthew Sayers’ World Religion class, where they visited London for a week. However, there were two off days in which she went to Paris and Dublin.
“So we went to three countries in a week, which was insane,” Lopez said.
During the fall of 2018, she lived in Valladolid, Spain. While in Spain, she took six classes, had an internship and worked as an English tutor. She was also able to visit many other countries, such as Poland, Morocco, Italy and Greece.
In the spring of 2019, she went on a service trip to Misminay, which is a small indigenous area in Peru, with Jen Liedtka and Dr. McEvoy where she was very involved with the community and culture and also got the opportunity to hike Machu Pichu. Last year, she planned to go to Belize as a part of the SLP program but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was cancelled.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many study abroad plans and has made learning difficult for students, especially in a clinical setting. This includes physical therapy (PT), as well as the SLP majors. Lopez said that she misses being in a physical setting and that she and her classmates have gotten used to teletherapy during her senior year.
On the other hand, although COVID-19 called for a big adjustment and changed a lot of plans, Lopez is grateful for her professors.
“It was an adjustment not just for us [the students] but our teachers,” Lopez said. “But they adjusted to it so quickly.”
The pandemic also disrupted other plans for Lopez. Some of her classmates graduated last year, and she felt as if she wasn’t able to see them and say goodbye properly since classes moved online.
“We all wanted that last Dutchmen Day together,” Lopez said.
With this year’s graduation ceremony incorporating 2020 graduates, hopefully Lopez can reconnect with her old classmates and find that sense of closure for her senior year.
