EGHS '13 Grad To Head To Oman In September

Some people are just more adventurous than the rest of us. Take Lydia Sanchez. The recent EGHS graduate spent her sophomore year in Argentina as an exchange student. At age 15. Her reason? She knew living in a Spanish-speaking country was the only way to really learn Spanish. Which she did.

“I knew by the time I was in 8th grade I wanted to be fluent in Spanish and total immersion was the way, which is how I ended up in Argentina,” Sanchez explained during a recent interview.

Now, Sanchez has set her sights on learning Arabic. Naturally, the only way to do that is to, you know the drill, live in an Arabic-speaking country. So later this summer, she will leave for six months in Oman, as part of a small group chosen by the U.S. State Department.

“This program is structured to make all the students involved proficient in Arabic,” she said. “I’m going to be exposed to the program that the diplomats use, the CIA agents use. It’s intensive language instruction.”

Two of Sanchez’s teachers are particularly proud of their student. Kristin Pontarelli was one of her Spanish teachers at the high school and Randi DeFusco was her Spanish teacher at Cole.

“It’s so nice to see a student who really knows what she wants to do from the beginning and really goes for that goal, doesn’t stop,” said Pontarelli.

“We talk about the idea of the lifelong learner a lot in education,” said DeFusco. “You don’t get the lifelong learner in middle school very often. I knew that she had it.”

DeFusco has stayed in touch with Sanchez over the years, including skyping while she was in Argentina.

“I had to live vicariously through her!” said DeFusco.

As focused and determined as Sanchez has been, she admits Argentina was harder at first than she anticipated.

“It was a challenge,” she recalled. “I walked into it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m ready for this, I’ve got this.’ Then, within a week, I realized, ‘I don’t got this!’ It was the realization that I don’t speak Spanish.”

Things got a lot easier as the weeks went by.

“It was amazing – truly life changing. I’m totally fluent in Spanish. I have friends in Argentina. I have friends all over the world because they were exchange students with me.”

As a member of the Arabic Club at EGHS, Sanchez learned some Arabic. She’s going with six other women. They will live in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

“In Oman, women are treated very well. They can drive, they can vote. They are in Parliament.

They are not allowed to wear head coverings in education settings,” she said.

As for what she wants to do with these languages she’s acquiring, Sanchez said she hopes to be a diplomat or maybe even run for office someday.