E-mail: sherbers@nd.edu
Language: Italian
Location of Study: Whitefish Bay
Program of Study: Dante Abroad by Dante Alighieri Siena
Sponsors: Albert J. and Helen M. Ravarino Family International Scholars in Italy Award, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures
Blog URL: https://sites.nd.edu/sla2018/author/sherbers/
A brief personal bio:
I am a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the youngest of six children. I am the first member of my family to attend the University of Notre Dame, but I have loved this university for as long as I can remember. I am an Applied Computational Mathematics and Statistics major with minors in Italian language and Actuarial Science.
Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:
My SLA Grant is important to me because it allows me to take my interest in Italian language and culture and turn it into a passion that stems from immersion in my studies. I look forward to fully diving into the Italian culture and emerge with a fuller understanding of the language and culture that I have committed to study. Without this grant, I would not have been able to explore my academic interests in Italian due to my rigid schedule during the semester. This grant has given me the flexibility to commit myself to an academic interest completely outside what I normally study.
What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:
I intend to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the Italian language and culture from the opportunities that this grant opens for me. Since I will be living with an Italian family for the summer, I hope to become comfortable with speaking Italian in a comfortable and familiar way, and I hope to build relationships using the Italian that I have learned and will learn. While one summer may not be sufficient for me to become completely fluent, I hope that my time in Italy will encourage me to continue to strive for fluency and create a community based on my Italian that pushes me to continue to use my Italian outside of the classroom once I return.
My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer:
1. By the end of the summer, I will be able to comfortably communicate with native Italian speakers in both academic and informal settings about a wide range of topics, from art history to the weather.
2. By the end of the summer, I will be able to speak, read, write and listen at a level of proficiency equal to one to two semesters beyond my current Italian coursework placement at Notre Dame and/or understand Italian culture in an academic setting that Notre Dame recognizes as sufficient for a humanities course.
3. By the end of the summer, I will have made connections in Italy so that I could draw on in future academic and professional pursuits so as to continue to incorporate Italian language and culture into my future education and/or career.