MWCC Planning to Shift to Early Education Option This Fall
By Elysian Alder | Assistant Editor
This upcoming May, the first group of students to participate in the MWCC’s Dual Language Business Administration Certification Program might be the last business-oriented cohort for the time being, according to Missi Sargent, Dean of Academic Affairs. While the current cohort piloted this program in 2021 and most have succeeded and benefited from it, the college will shift to a DLP offering in Early Education next fall, while the Business track will end.
The Dual Language Business Administration Certification Program is a way for Spanish-speaking students to pursue business certifications while also advancing and improving their English language skills. This means different things to different students. For some, it’s a way for them to bridge the gap between themselves and the current workforce climate, to be able to get jobs without feeling hindered. Some also see it as a way to access education where it may not have been accessible to them before. For others, it’s a stepping stone to being able to open and run their own business.
“I found out about this program online. I was actually looking for a career, and I was very interested in business administration because I’m interested in building my own business,” said Mayra Alaniz Andrade, one of the current students of the program. “But I wanted to be knowledgeable, and this was a great opportunity.”
Many of the current students studied at the undergraduate level in their former countries, and some already had Bachelor’s degrees from those institutions. For example, dual language student Carolina Montero has a degree in Industrial Psychology from the Dominican O&M University in the Dominican Republic. Carolina moved to the United States three years ago, and found out about the business program from Facebook, stating, “The program has been an excellent platform for learning English and, above all, a springboard to start again.”
The program offers courses in their first language, Spanish. They take ones relevant to business, such as accounting, marketing, and management, while also taking core prerequisites like English 101. By having their business track structured in this way, they’re able to expand their working knowledge of the business world, including developing general business language skills while learning English as a second language. An additional perk of this program is that it allows students to put the credits they earn towards an Associate’s in business administration. “I thought it was a good program and gives students an opportunity to jump start their degree,” said Elmer Eubanks, department chair of business at the Mount.
Offering such a program falls right in line with the priority that the Mount places on offering as many services and programs as possible to cater to diversity, equity, and inclusion within its community. With consideration to the large Hispanic population in the Fitchburg-Gardner-Leominster area, dual language programs for Spanish-speaking students at the Mount are incredibly valuable, not only for the students involved, but for the faculty and the people these students will go on to meet in their professional and personal lives. “If you are meeting someone who speaks a different language, then it’s likely that you’re meeting someone who could teach you about a different culture,” explained Katie Fuller, English 101 professor for the business certificate program, “and I feel like it’s important for the world to learn to work towards understanding each other in the most basic way, which is finding a way to understand each other, using whatever language skills you can.”
The students in the program all seem to agree: just as they learn from their professors, they learn from each other. Although they share the same language, they come from different backgrounds and cultures, and they bring to the table unique experiences that they’re able to teach their classmates and professors about. “Our class was in person last week, and we shared things about our cultures. Mayra cooked food from her country and told us about it, shared how she made it, so now we know about her culture,” said Natalia Oliver, another dual language student. “We are more than classmates now. We are friends, and we count on each other all the time.”
Despite the program having high value and positive reception, it has suffered setbacks. In order to run a cohort for a program, there needs to be a certain number of students enrolled and interested, typically around 15-18 of them. According to the Dean of Academic Affairs, Missi Sargent, “We did not start a cohort last year because there were not enough students who were interested and met the prerequisites. Unfortunately, this year we received even fewer applications.” As a result, the dual language business program is not set to renew next year.
When asked if their class size has impacted their ability to learn, Natalia Oliver commented, “We would love to have more classmates, you know, and share stories, share experiences, because we learn from each other. I would love to have more people involved in this program.”
Oliver continued by reflecting on what the reason may have been for the dwindling numbers and low interest and said, “We have a Spanish-speaking population that is so enormous, so it’s very disappointing that this program will not continue. Maybe they’re missing a way to advertise; maybe they’re doing the advertising, but not to the right channels. People like us, we have groups on social media. We can tell them the ways and the channels to promote this program, but if we don’t get told, we can’t help.”
Her classmate, Mayra Alaniz Andrade, echoed the sentiment, hoping they can offer their thoughts on how the entire program can be run in the future, especially having first-hand experience as a student in it. “The program is great, but if I could recommend something, it would be that we should be able to give feedback [about the overall program]. It’s important to talk about for the future of the program.”
As stated before, however, the dual language program for the business track is currently not set to renew. But that doesn’t mean the Mount has no plans of continuing dual language programs as a whole. On the subject, Missi Sargent commented, “There is great need for bilingual employees in the early childhood field. So this year we will be focusing on a dual language pathway for Early Childhood Education, which is tentative to begin this fall. Hopefully in the future, we can revisit the business certificate.”
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