“I first arrived in Beloit College from Guatemala, my home country, back in 2015. After graduating from Beloit in 2019, I moved to New York City. There, I completed several publishing internships. Since I was young, I have had a passion for books, and having a non-academic experience with reading was incredibly rewarding. I never thought there was so much to learn about the marketing and publicity that goes into book publishing.

“Even though my publishing internships were enriching, it is a highly competitive industry (especially in New York), and I did not see a realistic possibility of me moving past an intern position. Luckily, I was planning on starting graduate school at some point after leaving Beloit, so while I was in New York I applied to a couple of MA programs. Before Beloit, I did not consider graduate school. I didn’t even fathom that academia made reading a payable job and I didn’t think of myself as an educator (of course, I was very wrong about that). I was a comparative literature and French major at Beloit, and several of my professors pointed out my potential to be an academic. Particularly my advisor, Amy Tibbitts encouraged me to pursue an academic career. Now, I am finishing my MA in Hispanic literature at Michigan State University, where I have also been teaching introductory Spanish courses (and absolutely loving it). I am working on a thesis about queer maternity through the symbolism of nature in the poetry of Gabriela Mistral. After finishing my MA, I will pursue doctoral studies, also in Hispanic literature. I am extremely thankful for all the wonderful professors at Beloit who helped make an academic career possible for me.”