Mahtomedi High School (MHS) Spanish 5 classes, taught by Ms. Ann Garry, recently had several MHS alumni guest speakers share their experiences studying abroad. The alumni gave the students a comprehensive overview of their experience during the presentations. The students learned about the alums' decision-making for studying abroad, facing obstacles, financing study abroad, and how the experience impacted their personal and professional lives. It was a great experience for the MHS students to learn, ask questions about studying abroad, and imagine possibilities for their post-secondary plans. We are grateful for our alumni sharing their experiences with our students!
Alumni Speakers
Julia Salmen, MHS Class of 2020, attends Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Julia will graduate in December 2024 with a double major in Nursing and Spanish. Julia studied for four weeks in Madrid, which led to her decision to study abroad for a full semester in Granada, Spain. She has used her Spanish every day in her work at a medical clinic in LaCrosse where 70% of the patients they service are Hispanic.
Nina Duffy, Frances Fritsch, and Hanna Bradt are MHS Class of 2021 graduates and are currently in their junior year of college.
Nina is a marketing major at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. She studied in Barcelona during the spring semester of 2024. The Carlson School requires an international experience for all of its students, which ranges from a summer term to a semester and is tailored to business students.
Frances Fritsch is a communications major at the University of San Diego. She studied abroad for three weeks in Florence, Italy, and another full semester at sea. For the Semester at Sea program, 400 students from different universities take classes onboard a ship while at sea and then visit 10-12 ports, where they are encouraged to travel and explore.
Hanna attends the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison. She is majoring in Neurobiology. Hanna traveled to Costa Rica for two weeks with Wisconsin Medlife, a club she is active in at UW Madison that focuses on improving access to medicine, education, and community development initiatives. In Costa Rica, the students worked medical rotations in small, underserved towns. Hanna also spent the fall semester of 2023 in Florence, Italy.