Spanish Major Expands Career Options
By Lois Flowers
July 12, 2024

Lilly Flowers ’24 almost quit JBU’s Spanish program her freshman year. Despite four years of Spanish in high school, Flowers wasn’t prepared for the speed and depth of her first few college language classes. Plus, it was 2020 – the year of COVID restrictions – and wearing a mask made trying to learn a different language even more difficult.
An encouraging phone call from her mother helped. But what mostly made Flowers persevere was how Ivan Iglesias, Ph.D., professor of Spanish and department chair of language studies, went “above and beyond what is expected of a professor” to show he cared. He even sent another student after her once when she left class crying.
Iglesias, originally from Colombia, may not have been so sensitive to a distraught student when he joined JBU’s faculty in 2009. His teaching style has grown and changed along with the program he directs as Professor of Spanish. He said he also now gives priority to his students’ mental health issues as part of their overall academic performance. “I have gone from the authoritative figure common in the Colombian way of education to the approachable figure inspired by JBU’s Christian environment,” Iglesias said.
The fact that students call him “Profe,” a term of more familiarity than traditional titles like “doctor” or “professor,” is evidence of Iglesias’ approachability. Building on the structure for Spanish majors and minors created by his predecessor, Warren Roby, Ph.D., Iglesias revamped the curriculum and added hands-on courses such as Conversation in Spanish and Professional Spanish, which help students connect Spanish vocabulary to individual disciplines such as nursing, business, and education.
The speaking requirements were challenging for Averee (Gumm) Deck ’21, Spanish program alumnus, but they also provided an opportunity for personal growth. “I wanted to reach second-language perfection before I felt comfortable speaking, and that was an unrealistic goal,” Deck said. “Mistakes are inevitable, but the key to building fluency for a perfectionist like me is to keep practicing despite mistakes. The classes were a safe place to do the necessary work of correcting mistakes without creating embarrassment or shame for learning.”
Now, Deck uses her Spanish skills almost daily as a human resources specialist at JBU. “Something about having someone who understands and speaks your first language never fails to make a difficult or stressful situation easier,” she said.
While Spanish can be a stand-alone major at JBU, most students in the program choose to pair it with another discipline to expand their career options. While the number of Spanish majors has grown slightly since Iglesias came to JBU — averaging 15-18 students each academic year — the Spanish minor has grown to be one of JBU’s top four minors for three years.
A key difference between the Spanish major and minor — a distinction Iglesias says might account for the slower growth of the major program — is that students majoring in Spanish must devote an entire semester to studying abroad, either in Seville, Spain, or Quito, Ecuador. Iglesias said this step allows them to achieve an advanced or near-native Spanish proficiency level.
“It’s great because you’re put in an environment where you must use the language to survive,” Flowers said of her semester in Spain. “You have no other option, and when you have no other option, you realize how much you really know.”
Like many students, Deck loved the cultural immersion aspect of the study abroad program. “I lived with Spanish families, visited Spanish cultural sites and was able to learn the differences in lifestyles through both classroom and casual conversations,” she said. “While I had moments early on when the culture shock was overwhelming, by the end of the trip, I was grateful for the experiences that contributed to my growth as a person and my language skills.”
Studying abroad was a dream come true for Gabrielle Eitutis ’22, who majored in both Spanish and film. “The semester in Spain program challenged me to fully embrace living, thinking, and existing in Spanish,” she said.
She embraced it so much that she spent the last year working as a content creator and ESL instructor in Antigua, Guatemala. Her Spanish vocabulary has grown, along with her intercultural communication skills. “I have learned a lot, made plenty of mistakes, and had so many wonderful experiences,” Eitutis said. “I have learned the importance of being open and willing to try and experience new things. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been one of the most valuable skills in my life.”
Flowers is also enormously grateful she didn’t give up on her Spanish education her freshman year. In her first post-graduation position, she now serves as coordinator of recruitment and marketing for Semester in Spain, the program sponsored by Trinity Christian College that serves students from faith-based universities across the United States, including JBU.