Intercultural Engagement

Throughout my undergraduate studies at MSU, my understanding and appreciation of cultures different than my own has grown immensely. Both of my programs, Spanish and communication disorders, as well as the Honors program have pushed me out of my comfort zone into experiencing cultures in ways I never had before. There is always more to learn in a world with so much diversity. I look forward to continuing my journey to become more culturally competent as I move on to graduate school and my future career. 

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Coming into college, I had limited knowledge about cultures other than my own. I grew up in a small town in Iowa that was predominately white, and almost everyone I knew had similar upbringings and traditions. Through history classes, I learned about different religions and cultures, but we just scratched the surface of all that they entail. I began studying Spanish in high school, and it soon became my favorite class to attend. I enjoyed learning the language and about the culture, so I decided to continue studying it in college. 

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Throughout my journey of learning about other cultures, I have become aware of my own biases and actively work to dismantle them. My freshman year, I joined the Language Partner Program, where I met once per week over zoom with a student from China. The purpose of this program is to match students with international students who are looking to improve their English skills. Going into this experience, I had preconceived misconceptions about the students without consciously being aware of it. These misconceptions were based on generalizations I had made about individuals of Chinese culture. Even though these were unintentional, I came to recognize these as biases and as a result have worked to eliminate them. My Spanish major along with a trip I took to the Texas-Mexico border have also revealed to me some of the misconceptions that I had toward this group. Similarly, I have worked to transform my way of thinking and reshape how I view people from other cultures. This will be very applicable in my future as a speech therapist as I hope to work with both English and Spanish speaking clients.  

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A concept I have learned throughout my studies is the importance of being aware of others’ culture when speaking with them. Culture shapes how we speak and interact with others, and each cultures’ social norms may be different. When speaking with someone from a different culture, something I say or do may come off as weird or even offensive even though it is accepted in my culture. This cultural barrier can be difficult to overcome at first, especially if the two people are not familiar with each other's cultures. As a future clinician, I will research my clients’ ethnicity and culture prior to working with them. A significant part of making clients feel included and comfortable is knowing they are accepted for who they are. Beyond that, my goal as a clinician is to treat all clients with equity. This doesn’t mean that I treat each client equally. Rather, I treat each client with what they need. Clients of minority groups may need more support in certain areas than other clients. I will recognize this and tailor my plan of action to meet each clients’ needs. 

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Throughout each of these experiences, I have realized we are prone to making preconceived assumptions about people based on their culture, race, or ethnicity. These assumptions may be due to our life experiences (or lack thereof), what we have heard other people say, or what we read on the internet. To a certain extent, we cannot avoid making these assumptions. We naturally do it, often without intentionally thinking about it. However, this is not an excuse to feed into the misconceptions or biases that we have. It is our duty to recognize these biases in ourselves, point out others’ in a loving way, and actively work to dismantle them.  

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Engaging with other cultures has greatly enriched my college experience, and it has further prepared me to work with clients of different cultures. I enjoy interacting with people who are different from me because it is a great way to learn while showing support for others. Learning about other cultures will be a lifelong journey for me, and I hope to always grow in my knowledge about other cultures.