少女福利

Tucker Raymond ’21

This coming February 2023, Tucker Raymond 鈥�21 will embark on a two-year stint with the Peace Corps after recently accepting a placement in the Dominican Republic to teach literacy in primary school.

During his time at Saint Michael鈥檚 College, Raymond studied biology and Spanish, while also participating as a leader in multiple groups on campus including MOVE, CORE, and Orientation. Through these experiences he witnessed the immediate impact that volunteering has within a community, in addition to the value of strong leadership and communication skills, all capabilities which will prove essential during his work for the Peace Corps, he said.

Beyond his interpersonal skills, Raymond also intends to rely heavily on his experiences in the Spanish Department at Saint Michael鈥檚. 鈥淚 have to thank my Spanish education from SMC for preparing me for this adventure,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot only in my own communication competency, but also for the tools that I learned while learning Spanish.鈥�

These 鈥渢ools鈥� refer to the range of mediums (such as literature, films, and music) frequently utilized in upper-level Spanish classrooms at Saint Michael鈥檚. Through this variation, students can become better-rounded language-learners while simultaneously finding enjoyment in the subject matter.

鈥淭ruthfully, I am not 100 percent sure yet what my position will be doing day to day,鈥� Raymond said. 鈥淗owever I am hoping to use tools that make learning fun like music, poems, books, and TV shows. I鈥檒l use whatever resources I can to make it fun to learn.鈥�

While his students will certainly learn a great deal, Raymond is also excited to do some learning of his own. 鈥淚 am going to learn about this world, myself, the members of my community, the culture of the D.R., the Dominican way of speaking Spanish, and so much more,鈥� he said.

In Spanish, as is true in any language, dialectical variations occur depending on social and geographical influences. As Raymond alluded to, the dialects of the Dominican Republic can be particularly difficult to understand because they tend to drop letters (most commonly D鈥檚 and S鈥檚) while speaking, causing the words to become shorter and their speech to seem faster. For example, the Spanish word 鈥渃ansado鈥� (kahn-sah-doh) becomes 鈥渒ahn-sah-oh鈥� (phonetically). Or 鈥渆sta鈥� (es-tah) becomes 鈥渆h-tah.鈥�

Tucker Raymond ’21 on an earlier adventure.

Adding another layer of complexity to comprehension, each country in the Spanish-speaking world has its own unique collection of slang and colloquialisms, as does the Dominican Republic. For example, in the classroom, a Spanish-language learner might be taught that 鈥済enial鈥� means 鈥渃ool鈥� (in the sense of style or behavior, not temperature) but in the Dominican Republic it is 鈥渘铆tido,鈥� in Spain it is 鈥済uay,鈥� in Colombia it is 鈥渂acano,鈥� in Mexico it is 鈥渃hido,鈥� and so on.

Given his dedication to learning language, Raymond said that his future work teaching literacy for the Peace Corps really speaks to him. 鈥淚鈥檝e always said and thought that if we all could better communicate with one another, the world would be a better place,鈥� he said.

In addition to continuing to strengthen the language skills of both himself and others, Raymond also looks forward to becoming immersed in the culture of the Caribbean. 鈥淭he people of the Caribbean are like no other, they鈥檙e full of culture, love, passion, art, music, creativity, and of course, amazing food,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd the ability to go and interact, live, and hopefully mutually learn from the people of the D.R. really excites me.鈥�

For any students considering the Peace Corps after graduation, Raymond strongly recommends that they take advantage of the many resources that Saint Michael鈥檚 has to offer, such as the Peace Corps Prep Program, MOVE, and Study Abroad.

鈥淭he entire SMC community really prepared me for this,鈥� Raymond said. 鈥淧rofessors, the people of MOVE and Orientation, all my friends, everyone I interacted with, and Keri Leach, one of the most giving and caring people I know. My four years at Saint Mike鈥檚 prepared me for this.鈥�