Congratulations to our Winter 2020 Graduates

The SLLC is pleased to celebrate our Winter graduates!

Since we were not able to gather in person this semester, on December 21, we had a small ceremony online with one faculty speaker and two student speakers. You can view the recording of the event here.

Dr. Kira Gor (Russian), one of the faculty speakers underscored the importance of connecting to others via language, "more than half the world is biliingual, or multilingual. [...] We speak other languages to connect to other people. We stay connected in the world."

The first student speaker, Stephen Coyne (French) continued this message by saying, "We have learned to communicate across barriers. We have learned to listen to others. We have learned to be curious. We have learned, in a word, to connect."

And the final student speaker, Gilma Chávez (Spanish) rounded out the speakers with a beautiful speech about telling stories in order to be heard and to connect with others. "I wanted to study at the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at UMD to learn about language and culture. Dr. Rodríguez taught me that we have to tell our Central American stories."

Students were also presented with an online yearbook of all faculty and graduates. This yearbook assembled various photos of study abroad trips, of familiar places around campus, messages from faculty and department chairs, and it spotlighted each graduate in their own words. The graduates wrote about their best memories and highlights, their achievements during their tenure at UMD, and their future plans.

We wish you all the best! Please stay in touch! We'll miss you!