From no Spanish to the Spanish Honor Society

I took Spanish 1 as a freshman with no background in the language, and I wasn't sure I could learn one at all. Words came fast. Conjugations didn't: I'd get the ending right on a worksheet, then slip the moment I had to use it on my own.

So I put my strengths to work on my weak spot. Vocabulary and partner conversations turned into grammar practice until the patterns stuck, and because words came easily to me, I helped classmates who got stuck on one.

In Spanish 1, presentations were my hardest assignments. Standing up to present in a language I hadn't mastered yet felt harder than any talk I'd given in English, so they got more of my preparation than anything else in the course: I scripted each one and rehearsed it aloud until I could give it without notes. When Spanish 2 ended, they were my strongest work.

As a junior, I moved up to Honors Spanish 3 and became a student representative for Basha's Spanish Honor Society.

Spanish was the first thing in high school I learned from nothing instead of building on what I already knew. Being a beginner and sticking with it is a habit I've needed ever since, from fine-tuning language models to starting Setu Labs. Sitting on the outside of conversations I couldn't follow also showed me, in a small way, what the blind and low-vision people Lucky is built for face when digital content isn't made for them.