‘Benvenuto’ says the HPU Italian club to new members
By Ally Ortolani// Organizations Editor
According to Psychology Today, approximately 20 percent of North American inhabitants are bilingual, which is roughly 55 million inhabitants. Consequently, most liberal arts universities require students to take a language requirement as part of one’s holistic education. Learning another language is not only beneficial for one’s academic growth but diversifies one’s resume. Further, students at High Point University are highly encouraged to be involved in some form of extracurricular activity on campus.
The Italian Club is an up-and-coming organization meeting every Monday at 2 p.m. in the Cottrell Starbucks. Dr. Tessa Gurney, assistant professor of Italian and Director of the Italian Studies minor, runs this weekly event with students from a variety of levels. The attendance of those who are in the beginner levels of Italian is encouraged as well. Students speak about a variety of topics that range from, but are not limited to, small-talk conversations, one’s day-to-day schedule, or perhaps Italian current events. The casual, yet highly beneficial conversations provide a valuable opportunity to ask about troubling grammatical or oral speaking issues in Italian. For more information on how to get involved, be sure to contact Gurney at tgurney@highpoint.edu, or check out the Italian Club on Facebook by searching HPU Italian Club.
The Italian Club is additionally looking for a variety of ways to gain attention on campus. In the upcoming months, Gurney hopes to organize an event that involves making traditional Italian dishes, while engaging in Italian conversations. Students are encouraged to think of more ideas to further the interest of the Italian Club in HPU students. Events in the Triad area, such as film festivals and musical events, are some of the many events the Italian Club hopes to attend in the future.
Although the newly established organization is relatively small in numbers, Gurney hopes to reach out to Italian students who wish to advance their language speaking skills. Hannah Gutenstein, a sophomore taking Italian 2010, says, “I thoroughly enjoy learning about the Italian culture even as someone who is not Italian. I feel like it’s an underappreciated language and people should learn a second language to diversify their academic growth as a student.”
Similarly, an article in The Telegraph: ‘Why learn a foreign language? Benefits of bilingualism,’ “Physiological studies have found that speaking two or more languages is a great asset to the cognitive process. The brains of bilingual people operate differently than single-language speakers, and these differences offer several mental benefits.”
The Italian Club also provides positive opportunities to meet students in higher levels of Italian classes who wish to facilitate studying tactics.
Gurney says the Italian Club’s primary goal is to promote Italian culture, and of course, to reach out not only to Italian-American students, but those intrigued to enrich one’s education beyond the constraints of a regular classroom. All students are welcomed and highly encouraged to participate in this organization.
HPU’s Italian Club is one of the many language clubs already existing on HPU’s campus. Photos submitted