Alumni Profile: Laura Riddering
Laura Riddering majored in Spanish because she felt it was important as a global citizen to know another language. The opportunities she has received from her knowledge of Spanish are truly global.
"While working on a Spanish major I was able to do a lot of traveling. I learned by seeing the world in the classroom and outside the classroom," the 2003 graduate says.
"Studying Spanish as a major encourages all students to travel to one of the many Spanish speaking countries in the world," she says. "This not only widens the horizons of the traveler but allows students attending Alma to learn when the traveler returns."
Riddering is living in Switzerland and working for an international non-profit organization, working on a variety of things including sustainability projects in developing countries and environmental education programs. She uses her Spanish skills every day in her frequent dealings with and travels to South American countries.
"Knowing Spanish was a major asset in obtaining the job I currently have," she says. "Even if people do speak English everywhere there is a lot more to gain by speaking the local language."
Attracted to Alma by the small class sizes and professor-student interaction, Riddering double-majored in Biology and Spanish and minored in Environmental Studies.
"One really great thing about the Modern Language program is that it is flexible enough to have other focuses," she says.
Riddering was able to take advantage of that flexibility by taking a political science spring term in Mexico with Edward Lorenz and a communications spring term in Ecuador with Michael Vickery.
"By studying Spanish I was able to learn more than the language -- I also gained insight into my other areas of interest of the environment and biology in the context of Latin America," she says.
While at Alma, she was involved in the Service Learning program: teaching Spanish to elementary school students and English to Mexican immigrants. She also ran cross country and track and performed in the Kiltie Marching Band and the Symphony Orchestra.
