Hispanic Studies’ Student Focus, March 2024: Ms. Maddy Landa (’24)

Hispanic Studies’ Student Focus, March 2024: Ms. Maddy Landa (’24)

Hispanic Studies is proud to feature, as its March 2024 Student Focus, Ms. Maddy Landa.

A Spanish minor with an additional minor course of study in Women’s & Gender Studies and a double major in both Political Science and International Studies, Ms. Maddy Landa has made the most out of her time at the College of Charleston—this, to put things mildly.

Maddy spent the Spring 2023 semester in Trujillo, Spain, where she lived and learned in the language and did an internship with Adalberti, a local business focused on tourism. After participating in this impactful program, Ms. Landa put her language skills—refined from her time spent in Spain—to good use, becoming a Spanish Teacher with Upward Bound, as well as volunteering to tutor local, Spanish speaking refugees in the secondary school context.

Additionally, Maddy has been an active scholar, in many contexts, including her work on a Bachelor’s Essay focusing on “Gender, Latine Identity, and Violent State Intervention,” as well as through her presenting a paper on “Monstering as Resistance against Argentina’s Exclusionary Neoliberal Polices of the Travesti Community” at the WGS South Conference during May of 2023.

Outside of the academic context, Ms. Landa has also engaged herself meaningfully in a number of contexts, including her role as Student Coordinator for the Office of Victim Services’ Safe Campus Outreach and Prevention Team, as well as through her role as Media and Communications Coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Equity Center at the College of Charleston.

Finally—though, this by no means plumbs the considerable depths of Maddy’s activity and accomplishment—Ms. Landa is a Global Scholar, an International Scholar, a Global Ambassador, and, of course, a member of Sigma Delta Pi, the national Spanish honor society.

While the Department of Hispanic Studies will certainly miss Maddy when she graduates this spring and goes on to do great things (some of which are detailed below), it is very happy and fortunate to have been able to count her among its many impressive students.

In her own words…

“I have always been interested in cross-cultural exchange; it was why I began my Spanish language journey in the sixth grade, as early as possible. I continued learning the language through high school, but it wasn’t until I got to the College of Charleston that I was truly able to study the culture of linguistics in the manner that I desired.

My classes within CofC’s Hispanic Studies Department have always been my favorites each semester, and last spring I was thrilled to have the opportunity to apply what I had learned when I studied abroad in Trujillo, Spain. It was there that I was able to practice what I’d spent years learning; my host family and much of the community did not speak English, so I was thrown into an environment where I had to adapt quickly. I am so grateful for this experience. It taught me that learning Spanish is more than just a tool for communication, it is a lens through which one can understand culture better itself.

This is a lesson I took back with me to the United States. After Trujillo, I decided to volunteer with Lutheran Services Carolinas tutoring Spanish-speaking high school refugee students. I also teach a Spanish class with Upward Bound at CofC. Being able to pass on what I have learned to the next generation is incredibly fulfilling and is why I applied for both a Fulbright ETA position in Spain and a Peace Corps Youth in Development position in the Dominican Republic. I am thrilled to say that I recently accepted the offer with the Peace Corps and will be leaving this summer.  My experience with Hispanic Studies made these journeys possible. The classes I’ve taken, and my study abroad have become fundamental to my perception of the world and my place in it.”