By Katlyn Aleman Dominguez (English ’24)
Many people see a world languages and cultures degree as a ticket to study abroad, but the reality is that world language degrees are relevant to a range of careers locally in the US. Christine Scott‘s experience as a Spanish major at USC Upstate has influenced her career and led her to found her own business in the Upstate region of South Carolina.
Scott (Spanish ’08) was born in New York to a large Jamaican family. She did not grow up with Spanish spoken in the home, but Spanish was all around her during her time in New York. When she was four years old, she and her family moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where she completed K-12. After high school she moved to the Upstate to attend USC Upstate, and she has remained in the area ever since.
Scott chose to attend USC Upstate because it had the diversity she was looking for in a college, and she felt sure she could meet classmates from different cultural backgrounds.
Scott did not always see Spanish as her career path. She started taking Spanish classes in freshman year of high school and fell in love with language as the year moved on. She became aware of the impact of learning a new language when she became friends with an international student who knew Spanish, but little to no English. Scott and the student became friends and taught each other their languages as their friendship grew. These were all factors that made her choose Upstate as her college of choice.
Scott says her experience at Upstate was a positive. She was involved with the International Club and served as vice president of the Hispanic Awareness Association. Through these experiences, she learned about a range of Hispanic and Latino cultures and was able to study abroad in Costa Rica.
During her study abroad program, Scott learned much more about the Spanish language and how to speak both with peers and in formal settings. These skills helped her develop her skills in interpreting and led her to establish her own interpreting business, Christine Language Solutions (@christinelanguage), in 2018.