Hi guys! My full name is Elisa Marielle Buttafuoco. Although I am not all that well-traveled, I am able to say I have been to a couple of great places and seen some great things. I realize it is not that exciting or exotic, but I have lived in Valley Stream in Long Island for my entire life.

I attended James A. Dever Elementary School, where I met many people who I am still close with today. Once I graduated the sixth grade and went on to Valley Stream North High School (which taught grades seven through twelve), I immediately started learning about all different types of people. I befriended many fellow sweaty, nervous, and large binder-clad seventh graders from the other three elementary schools in the district. I was exposed to hearing many different languages in the hallway: English, Spanish, Italian, and Creole. It was fascinating to be around more kids who were bilingual and who represented at least two cultures. I started studying Spanish myself, and loved it right away. I enjoy (and still thoroughly enjoy!) hearing the language, reading it, formulating sentences in it, translating it in songs, and even taking tests in it. The language always came easily to me, definitely due to my passion for it. In senior year, I decided to challenge myself by taking my high school’s AP Spanish Language & Culture course. This course was far from the ordinary, ridiculously basic, and repetitive Spanish courses I took in the past. We studied the many Hispanic countries and their respective accents and dialects (the Spanish make a “th” sound when pronouncing letters which are spoken with an “s” sound by every other country), read articles about human geography and sustainability, and listened to clips of authentic documentaries about technological and medical advancements. If I could take this course again, I would do it five times!

It is even a little bit upsetting to me that I am not taking a Spanish course right now. Thankfully, when I hang out with my fellow Baruch GLASS members, some of whom are native Spanish speakers, I mainly speak with them en español. English is boring!

I believe that my exposure to a diverse group of students and my love of learning language and culture are crucial building blocks of my future. In fact, I plan to major in either International Business or International Marketing, to study a creative side to business that translates globally, and possibly to minor in Spanish, to further my comprehension of the language and to keep doing what I love.

So yes, I have not moved around, nor have I gone to Paris or even Niagara Falls, but I have met some great people and learned many things about myself and discovered where I would like to be in the future, all in the comfort of my hometown.