Margaret Dickman came to Scripps College with thoughts of majoring in theater – until she realized the classroom was her stage.
“I am a huge believer in the benefits of being bilingual,” she says. A Hispanic studies major, Margaret put her passions for education and Spanish to use at Horizons, a summer education program for at-risk youth from the Denver metro area. And some of her students – many from a Hispanic background – have been learning English from her for eight years.
“I always try to put an emphasis on how wonderful it is that my students can speak not only Spanish, but English as well,” she says. “I have really tried to help them to be proud of that.”
Margaret’s senior thesis is an extension of this pride. Entitled “Education Policy in Spain,” the thesis follows her as she attempts to understand the educational system in Spain and how it might be failing the gypsy community living there. The experience is personal as well as academic; she worked in a public school serving gypsies while studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain.
“It will be very interesting for me to use the information that I learned about the gypsy community in my next ventures into the world of education,” she says.
Margaret has returned to her hometown of Denver, Colorado to continue teaching underprivileged students as an elementary school teacher through Teach for America. And she hopes to remain for more than just the two year TFA commitment. “I believe one of the most important things we can do to further close the achievement gap and create more education equality is to make a commitment to our students.”
While Margaret looks forward to snowy winters, she admits, “one of the final things I will miss will be the smell of the orange blossoms around the beginning of April!
“Thank God we’re always able to return to Scripps, though.”