Mar 6, 2021 | Archives, News |
by Maxen Ryder, Distribution Manager
UMF is welcoming Cortney Benjamin as a new Spanish professor this year. With Benjamin’s experiences visiting Buenos Aires and passion for the Spanish language, she has been labeled as a great addition to the UMF language faculty.
Benjamin has been learning Spanish most of her life. However, she was originally intent on learning French. “I was in middle school and I really wanted to take French, but my mom told me I had to take Spanish since there were more Spanish speaking communities near me when I was growing up. She thought it would be more useful, so I took both,” said Benjamin.
When planning out her young adult life, Benjamin was advised to stick to one language and dive into one culture. “I planned on taking both [Spanish and French] all through college and when it came time to study abroad I was gonna do one semester in Buenos Aires and one semester in Paris, but the study abroad advisor told me it would be a better idea to just pick one place and stick with it the whole year,” said Benjamin.
Originally from North Dakota, Benjamin felt a culture shock while experiencing Buenos Aires. “It was a very big change for me,” said Benjamin. “You know, I’m from Fargo, which is the biggest city in North Dakota, but it’s still not that big. And it’s not a place that people move to from other places. You are either born in North Dakota, or you’ve moved away from North Dakota…But Buenos Aires was huge, and I remember feeling like I had so much freedom.”
However, Buenos Aires was a great influential experience for her. “It’s such a wonderful place,” said Benjamin. “The architecture is so beautiful. It’s a very international city because of the different waves of immigration that came to Buenos Aires. Yeah, it really opened my eyes to living somewhere besides North Dakota.”
These experiences clearly instilled a passion for the language in Benjamin, as noticed by student Rachel Beechin. “I thought she had a real passion for the subject and was always eager to answer questions,” Beechin said.
When first arriving at UMF, Benjamin liked the small, tight-knit liberal arts community. “I think the liberal arts are so important. It’s so important to learn to think creatively and think critically, it’s important to learn how to write well,” said Benjamin. “It seemed like the students really had a voice on campus…and I really like the close relationship between faculty and students on campus.”
Benjamin’s background and values have increased her strengths as a Spanish professor. Alba Fernández, a Spanish teaching assistant, admires Benjamin’s passion for going above and beyond in teaching Spanish.”She teaches from a cultural perspective. She cares a lot about each student. If you have a particular situation and you need help, if you need to Zoom from home, or if you need extra help, she is willing to help,” said Fernández. “Learning a language involves your previous knowledge and your skills depend a lot on your work, but also who’s there on the other side helping you.”
To Fernández, having that personalized attention from the professor can make a difference when learning a new language. “Cortney [Benjamin] really cares about your particular case, not only with your schedule or personal issues and stuff, but she [also] cares about your individual learning process,” said Fernández.
Benjamin has found that the most meaningful benefit for her through teaching is the impact she has on her students. “I think it’s just helping students find their place as a global citizen, to think about themselves as citizens of the world,” said Benjamin.
Benjamin finds herself in a lot of students that haven’t explored the world outside of New England, as she had once been a young person who had never left her home state of North Dakota. “I think language classes are a way to explore the rest of the world in a fun way that may lead to future career opportunities and future travel once the pandemic is over, hopefully,” said Benjamin. “So I think what’s important to me is helping students develop some cultural humility and realize how hard it is to learn another language.”
Because of her experiences studying abroad, she always encourages students to take the opportunity to explore the world while attending UMF during safer circumstances through the international study abroad programs. “Study abroad is so important and it’s so important to what I do,” said Benjamin. “Hopefully, once the pandemic is over, there will be a lot of opportunities for UMF students to study abroad.”
If students are interested in studying abroad, she welcomes students to come to her with any questions they may have. “I’m always available to talk to students about my study abroad experience in Buenos Aires because it was such a life-changing experience for me,” said Benjamin. “It really opened my eyes coming from a more rural area of the United States. I hope that UMF students are able to take part in that sooner rather than later.”
If students are interested in studying abroad, email Lynne Eustis, Assistant Director of Global Education, at leustis@maine.edu to schedule an advising session or visit the Office for Global Education in room 106 in the Fusion Center.
Mar 30, 2020 | Archives, News |
Andrea Swiedom Staff Reporter
While domestic UMF students living on campus were able to easily relocate to Scott Hall, or make arrangements to return home in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, international students were forced with tough decisions on whether or not to remain in Farmington and how to get home should they decide to leave. These students had to grapple with the additional stress of navigating border policies, booking flights threatened by cancellation, and the potential of being quarantined upon arriving home.
For 25-year-old French Teaching Assistant Enzo Boulay, the desire to remain in Maine and wait out the pandemic seemed like the most viable option, until March 19. “I had two choices. I could stay at my friend’s house in North Yarmouth or I could have stayed in Farmington,” Boulay said over video chat from his room in Le Mans, France.
“They gave me a room in Scott, and my plan was to come sometimes to Farmington to work and stuff, but one week ago Lynne Eustis and Linda Beck, my advisor, told us, ‘You should leave now, I highly recommend that you leave now.’”
Boulay made plans to return to UMF for the Fall 2020 semester and made his way back to what felt like a deserted country. “In Paris a lot of people have masks and in Levon I saw nobody. I just saw people in the train station, but in the streets there’s nobody.”
French exchange student Jennifer Guisset received the same recommendation by Eustis and Beck, but ultimately made the decision to return to her hometown of Toulouse due to the pressure she was receiving from the French embassy. “I didn’t feel kicked out from Farmington. That was my choice, and I took one week and a half to make my decision,” Guisset said over a video chat while walking around her mother’s vacant flat. “I had a lot of support. Linda and Lynne were always there for us; they gave us the support we needed.”
Meanwhile, Spanish Teaching Assistant Alba Fernandez had every intention of remaining in Farmington rather than returning to Argentina during the pandemic as she was already in the process of extending her visa for a summer teaching position with Upward Bound. When the announcement first broke about the UMaine system transferring the remainder of the semester to virtual courses, Fernandez was assured that she could continue her position as a TA online and continue to live on campus.
But responses to the pandemic were changing on a daily basis for the UMaine system as well as immigration policies for the United States and Argentina, and on March 19 Fernandez was strongly urged to return home by her advisor.
“By that time, it was impossible. Flights were cancelled, airports were closed,” Fernandez said via video chat while sitting in the sun outside of Scott Hall. “It will be at least May until I am allowed to go back to Argentina because the government closed the borders, and even Argentina people are not allowed to get into the country. So basically, at the beginning it was my decision, but now I don’t have a choice.”
Both Fernandez and Guisset had to take into consideration the health and safety of their families as well. Fernandez feared returning home because her mother already has a compromised immune system, and Guisset’s mother has cancer.
“This is all about adaptation everywhere,” Guisset said, standing in a room full of half-packed boxes left behind by her mother. “I took the plane on Friday; I arrived on Saturday. I stayed at my friend’s house in Paris to rest a little and to let my mother quit her apartment and go to her family’s house.”
Guisset will live alone in her mother’s flat to ensure her safety, but despite the isolation, she maintained a positive attitude. “When I was in medical school, I was always studying alone in my flat. So I am kind of used to this.”
Boulay, who has been quarantining himself in his room for the recommended two week period, expressed less contentment with the situation. He had been watching television and playing video games to pass the time, but even after his two week quarantine he will have very little freedom. In France, people are only allowed out of their homes for one hour of exercise a day or to go to the grocery store.
“If we go out without a good reason we get fined 135 Euros,” Boulay said. After the third offense, the police have the right to arrest people for violating the safety precautions that France is enforcing nation-wide.
“The police are in my neighborhood, and they are always watching,” Guisset said. With movement so restricted in France, she is thankful for UMF’s quick response to convert all courses to online classes, knowing that this will add structure and routine to her days.
“I think Americans reacted very fast when faced with coronavirus. For example, in France they don’t have online classes,” Guisset said. “They don’t know how they are going to have graduation at this moment. They don’t have classes, they don’t have exams, they don’t have anything.”
As courses resume online, Fernandez will be adjusting to virtual platforms to conduct her office hours and assist with Spanish courses while also consistently checking in with her family and friends in Argentina. “I think international people face an extra obstacle or challenge, which is processing this pandemic situation while so far away from home and from our people,” Fernandez said.
Mar 30, 2020 | Archives, News |
Andrea Swiedom Staff Reporter
Less than 90 students now reside on UMF’s campus in Scott Hall after the university officially closed all other dorm residencies on March 19 in response to COVID-19. The students living in Scott must now adjust to a condensed version of UMF which consists of their residence hall and the Student Center. Previously, students were able to use the Fusion lab spaces, but as of Sunday evening, VP of Student Affairs, Christine Wilson, announced all campus labs will be closed until further notice as a precaution.
Junior Khadija Tawane said over a video call that she is struggling to establish a healthy routine under the new restrictions. “They don’t have any activities in the dorms, and we are just in bed all day. My back hurts just from laying down all day and eating trash food!” she said.
UMF has put a slew of safety measures in place to help prevent the spread of coronavirus on campus which has greatly impacted socialization. All students are living in their own rooms in Scott and bathrooms have been assigned to a maximum of three people.
“This just lessens the risk of bacteria and what not,” Community Assistant (CA) Kellsie Britton said during a video call interview. “There’s also a no guest policy. Anyone who does not live in Scott, even people who live in campus apartments, can’t visit.” Britton did add that students living in Scott can visit each other within the residence hall.
Even the Beaver Lodge has new restrictions to minimize contact for employees and students. No more than 10 people are allowed in the cafeteria and lounge area and students are now required to pre-order dinner. “They sanitize everything as soon as people are done,” Britton said.
Students are also discouraged from traveling out of state or to any high-risk counties within Maine. “If they leave to go to a county that is high-risk like Cumberland then when they get back they are expected to go into a quarantine period which is in FAB,” Britton said. “They get their own suite and their own bathroom and they get food delivered to their door.”
Spanish Teaching Assistant Alba Fernandez is staying put in her dorm room with the exception of the occasional walk. “I am listening to music, watching the news, talking to people over the phone; that’s really important for me, talking to people,” Fernandez said during a video call on a sunny afternoon while she sat outside of Scott Hall.
Tawane and Fernandez keep each other company on campus, but Tawane does leave UMF regularly to work at Pinewood Terrace, an elderly home care center which has enacted similar safety precautions to UMF. “At my workplace, no visitors are allowed,” Tawane said, who seemed confident to continue working during the pandemic. “I am healthy. I’m not going anywhere. I am just working.”
Instead, Tawane was primarily concerned about adapting to virtual platforms for classes. “I have never done online classes and it’s just stressing me out, and I learn better in person,” Tawane said. “I am not good with technology, and I have never used the Zoom thing and one of my professors wants me to do a presentation through zoom.”
For Fernandez, loneliness is more of an issue than the stress of adapting to online courses. “Even though you are with people, you feel so lonely. We are all trying to process this situation so I feel like I cannot ask for help because we are all going through the same,” Fernandez said on a video call while sitting next to Tawane. “We all feel lonely and this is a huge mess in our lives.”
As a CA, Britton is used to helping students cope with a variety of circumstances while living on campus, but now she has the added responsibility of deciphering the new waves of information that she receives on a daily basis regarding the coronavirus.
“I have tried to be as informed as possible with the emails coming out. Any misconceptions coming out, I need to kind of correct those,” Britton said. “I think it’s very important to just be there and make sure that everyone’s feelings and thoughts are being heard which can take a toll on some of us.”
