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Lynnette Batt '04

Lynnette Batt '04

Major(s): Biology and Environmental Studies

Country of residence: United States

What was your Spanish language-based experience upon graduation from Bowdoin?
None

What was your motivation for searching out a Spanish language-based
experience upon graduation from Bowdoin?
I wanted to do some volunteer work teaching English abroad before going to graduate school and I ended up getting a position in Costa Rica so I needed to teach myself Spanish before going.

What previous experiences prepared you for your experience?
I had taken 4 years of honors French in high school and Intermediate French at Bowdoin. My background in French prepared me immensely for teaching myself Spanish, though I still wish I had been able to take it at Bowdoin (I had signed up senior year but didn’t get in due to over enrollment and preference given to underclassmen).

What methods, contacts, etc. did you use to arrange your experience?
Originally I was looking at specific volunteer programs such as World Teach and some other 1 year programs, but in the end I couldn’t afford the “program fees” (everywhere from $1500 to $5000 for the year). I just wanted to be able to teach in exchange for room/board not pay to volunteer. So eventually (after probably 2 months of research on and off) I found a posting on jobsabroad.com to do just that at a small school in Costa Rica-- it wasn’t an organized program yet and my boyfriend and I were to be the first official volunteers to teach English. So long story short I did a lot of research on my own to find a volunteer experience that matched my time frame, geographic desires (Central America) and financial limitations and it is no coincidence that that ended up being independent and not with an organized volunteer program.

Country in which you are currently residing:
US

Organization for which you are working:
None now

Are you currently using your Spanish language skills?
Not at this time, but I plan to return in the fall (actually to Argentina and Bolivia this time) to volunteer again and to travel.

Did your experience influence your current and/or future career choice and job skills? If so, how?
Absolutely. Previously I was going to look into Ph.D programs in Marine Biology as I was interested in pure science more than applied. I am now adamant about what I do having a real-world application and would like to work in an international setting helping countries with less advantage than the US to develop sound environmental policies. I am looking into Ph.D programs in International Marine Resource Management and/or International Environmental Policy and hope to eventually work with Latin American countries, therefore utilizing my Spanish skills.

Are you willing to be contacted by students who are interested to learn more about your experience?
Sure. Like I mentioned I never took Spanish at Bowdoin, but encourage anyone who is interested in Latin America or Spain to do so… or even if they are not able to take Spanish they could still explore options in those countries and learn the language on their own. Also, I have contact information for my volunteer experience in Costa Rica and would be happy to pass that on to interested students-- in short it was teaching English in a very small (about 200 people), rural town in the mountains of Costa Rica about 15 km from Monteverde. I also have contact info for an established program in the mountains of Ecuador (Fundacion Sierra Flor) that does not charge a program fee and which provides food and housing in exchange for teaching.

Story posted on September 21, 2005

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