Apesteguía — Fosforo | Revista

Paloma Apesteguía (Language Assistant, Universidad del Salvador)

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Our Climb

When I first got to Holy Cross, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with all my years of hard-earned teaching experience and my English degree tucked neatly into my backpack, I had no idea of the journey lying ahead of me. Sure, my bag was full of knowledge, but it turns out I was wearing the wrong type of shoes.

I—that is, we—started our climb uphill with whatever we had on us. We managed well enough in the beginning, but we didn’t really know where we were going. Enter Carol and Sonia, the first familiar faces. Sonia, especially, had been putting up with our panicked emails about visas and travel restrictions for months before we even got here; and Carol had always assured us, even when things looked really grim, that she would see us all in August. They gave us hiking boots and directions: here is how you get to Kimball, here is how to set up your phone’s data plan, here's how you teach a class.

We walked on. We stumbled a bit at first, unused to the size and weight of our new shoes, but we would help one another up if we lagged behind; we would wait for each other if one of our shoes was untied.

It turned out our backpacks weren’t just heavy loads for us to carry. Each of us had brought with us ideas, experiences, and materials that became the tools that helped us progress on our journey.

Of course, there were hurdles. Broken bridges, turnarounds, landslides. There were 8 AM’s, difficult students, difficult classes, coordinating schedules, and the dreaded observations. There was Spanish Club and a litany of office hours. And so, with every setback, every stumble—and with every small victory, too!—we became better teachers. Suddenly, half a year had gone by, and as we looked behind us, we appreciated how far we had come. And as the first semester came and went, so did the second.

After ten months on The Hill, we have finally reached the summit. It has been, literally and figuratively, an arduous climb. But as Miley Cyrus once wisely said:

There’s always gonna be another mountain,
I’m always gonna wanna make it move,
Always gonna be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you’re gonna have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what's waiting on the other side,
It’s the climb.

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Note

This reflection was offered at a farewell banquet for Language Assistants (LAs) in May, 2026.

Hosted by the Spanish Department at Holy Cross, the Language Assistants are visiting exchange students from the College’s study abroad sites in Spain and Latin America. LAs lead small, dynamic practicum sessions for language learners, study language pedagogy within the department, pursue their interests through coursework across the College, and serve as cultural ambassadors for their home communities. They also play an active role in campus life by organizing Spanish Club events and contributing to broader cultural programming.

For over thirty years, Spanish LAs were part of the broader Foreign Language Assistants (FLA) Program within the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL). When Spanish became an independent department in 2010, Program Director Prof. Helen Freear-Papio, who led the FLA Program masterfully for over two decades, ensured that FLAs continued supporting both Spanish and the newly formed Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures (WLLC).

When the College announced plans to end the FLA program in 2024, an outpouring of support from thousands of students, faculty, and alumni saved it. In response, the program was restructured into distinct administrative frameworks for each department: Spanish assistants became simply LAs, while those in WLLC became ILAs (International Language Assistants), reflecting their tailored roles within each program.

The 2025–2026 LA cohort was the first to arrive under this new structure, navigating further hurdles as the U.S. government overhauled visa processes. Many of their successes were made possible by the steadfast support of Prof. Carolina (Carol) Blázquez and Academic Administrative Assistant Sonia Zeglen, mentioned above.

Número 21 — 2026

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Our Climb

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Número 21 — 2026

︎ Our Climb

︎︎︎ Contents | Índice

︎︎︎ Contents | Índice

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Our Climb