Previous Scholarship Highlights

The Dorothy Maguire Scholarship in Modern and Classical Languages

Photo by Teresa Philips

Jesus Lopez, CLAS ’07, has always been fascinated by different languages. Even though English and Spanish are his native languages, he was eager to learn more languages while growing up in Brooklyn.

“I would be on the subway in Brooklyn and I would hear Chinese being spoken and I wanted to know what was being talked about,” Lopez said.

When he was 11 years old, Lopez began taking Italian classes. He added Portuguese and French classes in high school.

In college, Lopez took beginner courses in German and studied abroad for three months in Germany. He found that learning German was much more difficult than the previous languages because of its syntax.

In Germany he immersed himself in the language by living with a host family and studying the language intensely at the University of Stuttgart. He eventually studied German literature at the University of Tubingen.

Lopez, a double major in German and Italian Literary and Cultural Studies (ILCS) and a regular on the Dean’s List, was awarded the Dorothy Maguire Scholarship for his achievements. Karen Maguire, CLAS ‘68, ’71 M.A., ’81 PhD, endowed the scholarship in modern and classical languages to honor her late mother.

Lopez recalled waiting for his name to be called at the awards program, but at the time, he did not know what the award was for. “If your name is at the end of the awards program, you know it’s something good,” he joked. “It was a nice surprise.”

In the future, Lopez may either pursue studies in classical voice, a career in opera, or study literature in graduate school. Lopez’s only problem: picking a language to study! - Karen McCormick, CLAS ‘07