Shanaya Carter is one of around 20 Camosun students who have dedicated their time rallying for a second-year Spanish class at Camosun, and their dedication—from gathering signatures on petitions to meeting with the Camosun Arts and Science dean—has paid off. After campaigning since the start of the winter 2022 semester, SPAN 205 – Spanish through Storytelling is set to be offered in the fall 2022 semester.
The course—which is equivalent to UVic’s Spanish 250A—gives students a chance to continue studying Spanish at Camosun and build a relationship with instructors and other students.
“For me, it had a lot to do with my need for it,” says Carter. “I want to minor in Hispanic Studies and Spanish, so for me to continue my time at Camosun and keep on track with my learning, I needed to have it offered… But I think too, after spending the year with generally the same students from Spanish… you just really developed a relationship with them and Janice [Shewey, Spanish instructor].”
There hasn’t been an opportunity for students to continue their Spanish education at Camosun due to a lack of interest in the past.
“What the general consensus was was that there wasn’t enough interest in the course,” says Carter. “But from what Celina [Lessard, Camosun student and Nexus contributing writer] and I kind of figured is, it wasn’t really communicated with anybody looking for classes that it was an option… There was no type of announcements or, not advertisements, but just letting students know it was a new course.”
Shewey says that she is excited to turn her ideas into what will be SPAN 205.
“I think it’s fantastic,” says Shewey. “My goal with [Spanish through Storytelling] is incorporating story into the class in a bunch of different ways… Give students a chance to really master more of the past tenses because they’re going to be telling stories and listening to stories.”
Overall, Carter is mostly happy with the outcome. Still, while students can register for the course in the fall semester, she suspects the class won’t happen if the 25 seats aren’t filled. This becomes difficult for students—like Carter—who need this course to complete their program.
“I think I’m happy with it, but it’s tough because right now, we’re not even guaranteed the class unless enough people register,” says Carter. “I’m taking Spanish 250A at UVic because I need to take Spanish no matter what… I’m going to have to pay double student fees. If the class at Camosun goes through, which I hope it does, I’m just going to have to take both classes.”
While the students got the class they campaigned for, Carter feels that they shouldn’t have to fight so hard to get a class they need for their education.
“It’s unfortunate that that’s required when we felt like we had a pretty good base of people who were interested,” says Carter.