Bejarano offers an international take on the humanities

by: Alexis DeLancey-Christiansen

Trine University’s Humanities and Communication (HAC) department offers a variety of useful courses for majors and non-majors alike. For many students, education in composition and literature is standard, but as Trine’s international population grows, so does the diversity in the department.

With these expanded worldviews comes a wide array of experience, so international students’ perception of the humanities and communication courses they have taken differs from domestic students. Trine has students from as far away geographically as Japan and as close as Canada.

Yancy Bejarano, a first year business/marketing student from Honduras, said she struggled with writing in the beginning. While she understood the classes themselves, Bejarano initially struggled with the writing aspect of her courses.

“It’s nothing like in Spanish,” said Bejarano. “English is much more formal.”

Still, despite this difficulty, she had nothing but positive things to say about her classes, and claimed that she would not change anything.

Bejarano studied Critical Reading and Writing last year, a course for international students to prepare them for composition classes, and is taking English Composition I this semester with Professor Justin Bock. In addition, her English Composition I class is complemented by a weekly lab with Naomi Bush as well as visits to the Writing Center. Still, she stressed that to her, all of her classes are an exercise in English.

“All of the teachers go out of their way to say that international students are welcome,” Bejarano said.

When asked to consider how she felt about taking more English classes in the future at Trine, Bejarano said, “I feel nervous in some ways, because I do not know what to expect or how hard it will be.”

This is only Bejarano’s second semester at Trine, so she has a lot of time left to spend in northeast Indiana. Still, when asked how she feels about the future, Bejarano stated that she is sure her teachers will be helpful to her every step of the way.