Senior Reflections: The Holy Cross Impact

The encouraging atmosphere at the College is helping Meaghan McSherry dance her way to a career in education


Meaghan McSherry

 

Meaghan McSherry
Spanish Major with a concentration in the Teacher Education Program
Hometown: Worcester

 

 

  1. Meg’s participation in the First-Year Program allowed her to instantly feel comfortable on campus. Before long, she found herself involved in a variety of campus activities, serving as a freshman intern for the Student Government Association, volunteering as a tutor with SPUD, and later joining both the Modern Languages and Literatures and Education Student Advisory committees. “Being in the FYP Program was a great way to build a community and develop a close relationship with your FYP professor who, in my case, was Dean Swigert,” she says. “After taking your FYP seminar with the same professor for an entire year, you develop a special relationship with him or her that could last the entire four years. They welcome you to speak with them about academics and offer advice on all issues, ranging from friends to family problems.”
  2. As an RA, Meg became well-acquainted with many students. She remembers walking around on RA duty while stopping to ask how her residents were doing. “The girls were great and I’m good friends with several of them now,” Meg says. “I enjoyed putting up bulletin boards and working with the staff to make plans for hall programs. I guess it’s the teacher in me.”
  3. Carrying on a tradition that started when she was 5 years old, Meg practiced dance at Holy Cross. “Being on the Ballroom Dance Team was one of the things I missed the most while studying abroad junior year,” she says. “It’s like a family and everyone becomes good friends and genuinely enjoys spending time together, even outside of practice.” She especially liked the thrill of competing against other college teams. Meg, who served as the team’s secretary as a sophomore and treasurer as a senior, won ribbons her freshman and sophomore years during the competitions.
  4. Meg describes her junior year in Spain as “the best year ever,” living up to dreams that she had since high school. Her orientation program started in Pamplona, followed by relocation to Leon. The move was a bit nerve-racking because it was the first time she had to speak entirely in Spanish with native speakers. But her host mother — and Holy Cross — made the process go smoothly. “I have so many memories that I’m grateful for. Holy Cross was always there to support us, I was well matched with a caring host family and I was able to share an amazing and unique year with fellow Holy Cross students, some of whom have truly become my best friends. I could not have asked for anything more,” she says.
  5. During her year abroad, Meg also traveled to 14 other nations. Navigating foreign cities, especially in countries where she did not speak the native language, was a fun and exciting challenge. Learning first hand about new and different cultures was incredible, she says. Indeed, one of her greatest accomplishments is that spending all that time thousands of miles away from home made her more independent and prepared her to come back to Holy Cross with a much wider world view.
  6. Whether as a student or teacher, Meg comes alive in the classroom. Since high school, she has wanted to be a teacher and was one of the first in her class to sign up for Holy Cross’ Teacher Education Program. Taking a wide variety of courses in both the modern languages and literatures and education departments helped Meg to further realize that her passion lies in teaching a foreign language while simultaneously touching the lives of students. Her coursework in Spanish in the U.S., taught by assistant professor Josep Alba-Salas, further sparked her interest in linguistics and learning more about the great diversity of the Hispanic population in the United States. She focused her final paper on the experience of Hispanic female students in the U.S., a culmination of her second prepracticum work at Burncoat High School and studies in both Spanish in the U.S., and assistant professor Ericka Fisher’s Multicultural Education course. A version of this paper was published in this year’s publication of
    Fósforo, Holy Cross’ own Hispanic magazine.
  7. She loved student teaching at Burncoat High School during the spring semester and gained a sense of satisfaction after encouraging the kids to learn and participate in class activities. “Student teaching is an experience unlike any other at Holy Cross, the schedule and the day-to-day struggles with classroom management and teaching itself have made this semester uniquely challenging, but, at the same time, extremely rewarding. I am so sad to be leaving the kids,” she says. The students have provided her with some unforgettable memories, including the time they brought in a cake to celebrate her birthday to the overall progress she was able to make with so many of her students over the course of the semester.
  8. In order to pursue her dream of a career in education, Meg will attend Boston College to attain her master’s in curriculum and instruction. “I’m really excited about attending another Jesuit institution and continuing my studies in the fields of education and language instruction, two areas I have truly become passionate about during my years at Holy Cross,” she says. While she loves being in the classroom, Meg has entertained the idea of working on educational policy, at the state or national level, in an effort to make effective change in what she perceives as a troubled public education system. She adds, “I want to share my love of learning and teaching and, at the same time, help ensure that everyone has the opportunity to obtain a sound education.”


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This Senior Spotlight was written by Pamela McQuade ’08 of Dix Hills, N.Y. A double major in political science and Italian, Pamela studied abroad last year in Florence. This summer she will return to Europe and to travel in Ireland, Greece and Italy. In her spring semester of senior year, Pamela served as the chair of the Student Advisory Committee of the Modern Languages and Literatures department and as an intern in the Office of Public Affairs.

Photography by John Buckingham.