My spring 2024 semester provided me with the opportunity to expand my skills and experiences in ways that will be invaluable in my future career. One highlight was Literature and Education, a course taught by Professor Jenny Adams, which allowed me to develop practical teaching skills such as lesson planning, activity building, and assignment drafting. I particularly enjoyed implementing my lesson plans while teaching a class, as it gave me hands-on experience. The course also emphasized the importance of community building, enabling my classmates and me to collaborate and exchange ideas on how to enhance the classroom experience in future teaching roles. Another standout class was Personality Psychology, taught by Professor John Bickford. His engaging and enriching teaching style made the course both enjoyable and intellectually stimulating. Overall, this semester gave me the chance to build a strong foundation for my senior year while also appreciating the beauty of Amherst in the spring. Returning to UMass in the fall for my final year was bittersweet. During this semester, I focused on completing the requirements for my major and minor, as well as finishing the courses needed for my TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate. Alongside academics, I made it a priority to create lasting memories at UMass. I regularly attended sports games, participated in campus events, and engaged in club activities, making the most of my remaining time on campus. As I look ahead to my final semester, I feel both excitement and nostalgia. While I’m eager to wrap up my experience at UMass, I’m also anticipating the bittersweet emotions that graduation will bring. I am deeply grateful for the support I’ve received from the donors and the MVYouth organization, which has played an essential role in making this journey possible.
Larissa De Oliveira - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The past two semesters at UMass Amherst have been motivating, exciting, and transformative. In the spring semester of my sophomore year, I enrolled in five courses, which ranged from classes pertaining to world religions and Native American literature to classes that focused on putting teaching English into practice. Languages, Literatures, and Cultures 115 is a requirement for getting my certificate to teach English as a second language, and it was one of my favorite courses from that semester. This class meant a lot to me, as I was once a part of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. I was assigned to tutor an international student, Tianyu Wang, who was from Beijing, China. During the course, I constructed my own lesson plans and lesson materials based on the skills that Tianyu wanted to improve while learning English. We met once a week for about an hour, during which I shared the lesson I had prepared, helped her with any assignments she had, and gave her the support she needed in her academic journey. Overall, I enjoyed the experience of being a teacher, and I am excited to apply the skills I learned to my career. This fall semester, I transitioned from living on campus in the dorms to living in an off-campus apartment, which was so exciting. I was enrolled in four English-focused courses this fall that introduced me to a variety of information and skills. My English 358: The Romantic Poets class was very interesting, as I got a formal introduction to poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This class also brought back memories, like, for example, while I was studying Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, I was brought back to having to memorize it in Mr. David Wilson’s class my freshman year at MVRHS. As I advance my academic career, I become even more grateful for the support that MVYouth has offered me. Thank you to everyone involved in this program and to those who are making my academic success possible!
Larissa De Oliveria - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The last two semesters at UMass have been amazing! Last semester I got to experience my first spring in Amherst which was such a great opportunity to explore the area more. I enjoyed finding quite places outside to study and do work. Moving out of my freshman dorm was bittersweet, it holds so many memories of my first year here and the start of my college journey. Although leaving that dorm room was kind of sad, I was also excited to start my second year and make even more memories. I was also happy to wrap up my courses and return to our island community. Returning in the fall was much different than the previous year. It felt great to know where everything is and to be arriving to familiar faces.
This fall semester has been a great start to my second year at UMass. This semester I focused on finishing up a couple of gen ed requirements, for example I took a biology course titled: Evolution Explained which was taught by a lively professor who related the material to pop culture references and made sure we were always engaged in class. It was a different approach to biology than I have experienced in the past, but I found myself grasping concepts faster than I thought I would. For my fall semester I set a goal to challenge myself and I did just that. I enrolled in a Linguistics course which is the first step in obtaining a certificate to teach English to speakers of other languages. I am very excited to work towards this certificate and be able to have a full circle moment starting as someone who had to be taught English and now hopefully becoming someone who can teach English. Once again, I am very grateful for MVYouth, and all the people involved in providing me with this amazing opportunity. Thank you for all the support!
Larissa De Oliveira - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
My first semester at UMass, Amherst started with a smooth transition into my dorm in Orchard Hill. Being able to stay in an all-freshman dorm building has allowed me to achieve my goal of extending my inner circle and I was able to create many new friendships. Although it is a hike, Orchard Hill provides me with the perfect environment to both be part of the UMass community, while having the calm and quiet to focus on my studies. This semester I enrolled in five courses that were mainly focused on meeting my gen-ed requirements as well as my English major requirements. I enrolled in an English lecture in which I was able to explore different forms of literature with a focus on gender and race. This class allowed me to look at short stories, essays, research papers, and films with a new lens and the class taught me how to connect my observations so that I was able to develop a thought-out analysis paper for the end of the course. Along with this class, I also enrolled in a gender and race seminar.
This seminar was helpful along with the class because we were introduced to all the resources available on campus to help us with research and writing. I spent a lot of my time outside of class in the Dubois Library which offers endless resources and helpful tools to help me write and study. I can’t quite describe the feeling that I had during my Psych 100 lectures. It was amazing to be able to sit in a class that I had always wanted to take and that I truly wanted to learn more about. During this semester, I attended events held by many different clubs on campus so that I would be able to choose the club that I thought would best fit in the upcoming semester. I plan on joining the University Programming Council which will allow me to help plan community events.
I am so grateful for the opportunity that MV Youth has given me. Attending college was a dream that MV Youth made my reality. Thank you for all the support!