Student Advisory Panel
The Student Advisory Panel is a group of language minors chosen to represent the World Language Center across campus and on social media to promote global citizenship through learning languages and culture and to advance a global mindset at Northeastern and beyond.
Student Advisory Panel Members
Nicole Abbatine
Class of 2023
Major: Biology
Minor: Spanish
Hometown: Ashland, MA
What I love about learning languages and culture: Learning about language and culture has enriched my life and brought newfound purpose. I feel immense pride in myself for achieving bilingual capabilities as an adult, and I have gained a more open-minded perspective on the world from learning about cultures from a non-American lens.
How I plan to use my language skills in the future: I hope to study abroad in the future to improve my Spanish skills. Furthermore, I would love to complete a research co-op in a Spanish-speaking country, an opportunity available to me due to my language and culture studies.
Myles Bandel
Class of 2022
Major: Linguistics
Minors: Japanese and Computer Science
Hometown: Long Island, NY
What I love about learning languages and culture: I love learning about language because it is a doorway into another peoples’ culture. The way language is used is a way to see how speakers think. Through learning about language and culture I learn more about a different group of people and how they live.
How I plan to use my language skills in the future: It’s always been my dream to live in Japan. I’m studying Japanese with the hope to one day live and work there.
Rachel Cohen
Class of 2024
Major: Computer Science and Physics
Minors: Spanish and Math
Hometown: Wilmington, DE
What I love about learning languages and culture: I love language learning because it has provided me with tools to communicate with people I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. I feel that understanding language also has allowed me to connect with different aspects of culture such as music, television, and movies in an authentic way.
How I plan to use my language skills in the future: I hope to be a lifelong learner with regards to language studies and use my knowledge to connect with a wider range of people throughout my career. I also would love to utilize it for volunteering and travel purposes.
Kristin D’Angelo
Class of 2023
Major: Biology
Minors: Spanish, German and Environmental Science
Hometown: Long Island, NY
What I love about learning languages and culture: I absolutely love learning new languages and being able to communicate with different people. It is so cool to me to be able to speak, think, and understand things in an entirely different language! It also opens up a world of different opportunities, from travel to jobs to entertainment to new friends!
How I plan to use my language skills in the future: I want to continue to improve the languages I am currently learning (Spanish and German) as well as acquire new languages. I plan to use language to connect with family members who live abroad, as well as travel to new places, meet new people, and hopefully use it in my career as a teacher!
Alejandro Toledo Restrepo
Class of 2022
Major: Economics and Math
Minors: International Affairs and Chinese
Hometown: Medellín, Colombia
What I love about learning languages and culture: I love learning about cultural references that may only be picked up after obtaining a certain proficiency in the language, which enables me to establish deeper connections with the native speakers that I meet. Language learning also leads to an increase in my cross-cultural understanding, which allows me to thrive in worldly environments, as is Northeastern.
How I plan to use my language skills in the future: English, as my second language, has already opened a lot of opportunities for my professional and personal growth. In the future, I am looking forward to spending some years in either China or Taiwan learning mandarin to have a first-hand experience on what it is like to live in Asia! I believe the language will continue to be useful throughout my life in personal, career, and educational related settings.