Many new faces have graced campus during the start of the 2015-2016 academic year as students from China, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Afghanistan and all across the United States have officially begun their Olney journeys. We have also welcomed several new members to the faculty, including Spanish teacher Connie Collins. Originally from the Canton, Ohio, area, Connie brings energy, enthusiasm and a unique educational background to Olney.
A graduate of Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, Collins pursued the uncommon double-major of Spanish and Zoo Science. Her interests in both fields began during childhood and carried into her college career. “Well, Zoo Science, I was mainly interested in that because I’ve been interested in science and nature since before first grade, I think, as far back as I can remember,” Collins said. “My mother took me and my older brother to zoos a lot when we were children, so it was sort of a natural thing for me.”
As for Spanish, she began studying independently in fifth grade then took four years of formal study in high school. She considered possibly earning a minor in Spanish, but her strong background opened up the possibility for earning a second degree. “Since I already had taken four years, which included an AP class, they suggested I should just major since I would be able to skip the introductory courses.”
In addition to teaching four units of Spanish, Collins also serves as a girls dorm sponsor. She was surprised, initially, by the strength and openness of the Olney community and the maturity shown by many students. “I really like the community. It’s inviting and it’s kind of like it’s own little world which is very interesting to me for a high school, anyway,” Collins said. “It almost seems more like a college to me, but the students are obviously younger. And even just moving in, it felt like going back to college.”
As a supplement to the traditional foreign language sequence, Collins has also given thought to offering a Spanish cooking Endeavor. “The idea for it is basically learning how to follow recipes that are written completely in Spanish and also picking apart how a recipe in formulated in Spanish, like different grammar points that you need to look at and verb conjugations as well as different vocabulary you would need to be able to follow a recipe,” Collins said. “Since most of the verbs in recipes are in the command form, it would be a good way to introduce students to commands and how they are formed and the different ways — you can formal and informal commands — and recipes can be in either. Also, there may be a component of students writing their own recipe in Spanish of something they like to make. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be an ethnic dish, but maybe something as simple as baking cookies.”
Collins is joined on campus by her pet rat, Jerry, who is not fluent in Spanish.
