Language enrollment has been dropping in colleges across the country since the fall of 2009, according to Modern Language Association. This includes programs like German, French and Spanish.
However, Milligan’s Spanish department has not been a part of this nationwide trend and is progressively bringing more students into the program. In the fall, the Spanish program expanded by adding a new major option for students, and Mandarin Chinese was offered as an additional foreign language course.
Spanish is the only foreign language program at Milligan that gives students the opportunity in which to both major and minor.
“Language is the future,” sophomore Spanish major Maggie Booher said. “It will be a need to know Spanish. It will make a person employable.”
Booher took Spanish in high school, but taking it at Milligan has been a new experience for her. Booher came in with a Spanish major, with the hopes to further what she learned in high school.
“The pace of learning Spanish is faster,” Booher said. “You learn so much about culture, too.”
Another student who is pursuing a Spanish major, along with an exercise science major, is junior Amy Olvera.
“Being a Spanish major has changed my perspective on how to view other cultures,” Olvera said. “I have been introduced to new ways of thinking and interacting with individuals, and it’s great!”
Milligan currently has seven majors and 21 minors in the Spanish program.
“There has been a significant increase since I’ve been here,” assistant professor of Spanish and humanities Allysha Martin said. “Two years ago we had one Spanish minor graduate. Last year we had two majors and five minors.”
Martin expects the program to continue to grow in the upcoming years. One of the reasons Martin thinks the language programs are doing so well at Milligan is because of the strong presence of community and passion.
Martin also talked about why the down trend might be happening.
“Downturns in numbers can often be attributed to limited funding; if there are no teachers hired, there are no classes, and, thus, no students,” Martin said.
Milligan offers German, Mandarin Chinese and French as additional languages to take, but they do not have majors or minors.