Kirsten Smith, '17

Kirsten Smith grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and graduated from both Clark State Community College with her Associate's of Arts and Northwestern High School in 2014. She will graduate with a dual major in Spanish and French and a minor in Arabic. She has been studying Spanish since she was 11 years old, and started studying both French and Arabic at Wright State University in 2014. She has completed a research paper in Spanish on terrorism in Central and South America, will be starting a research paper on the influence of the Arabic language in modern French rap, has been on the Dean's List, is a member of the Honor's Program, and will be graduating in December of 2017.

Kirsten is an active student in Modern Languages. She volunteers at all Spanish, French, and Arabic Immersion Days, has travelled to Paris and Normandy, France as a student in the Ambassador Program, will be travelling to Quebec for another Ambassador Program, recently participated in the Celebration of Research's plenary session where she presented her research, and goes above and beyond the classroom to improve her knowledge of Arabic culture and language. To expand her vocabulary and practice her Arabic, she spends hours in her professors' offices practicing conversation skills and learning about dialects. She volunteers in her professors' classes to help others with Arabic whenever she has free time during the school day, and spends her free time reading short stories in Arabic and Arabic poetry. Kirsten has also gone above the requirements for the Arabic minor, and continues taking classes to expand her knowledge of the Arabic language.

After graduation, Kirsten plans on continuing her education. She plans to apply to multiple universities abroad, including many universities in North Africa and the Middle East. She hopes to continue studying Spanish, French, and Arabic by majoring in French or Arabic and specializing in North African poetry and literature, while continuing to take Spanish throughout her educational career. She plans to receive her Ph.D. abroad, and afterwards become a professor, as she has been inspired by her wonderful professors here at Wright State University.