In its third year, McDonel Hall's all-Spanish, all-the-time floor, La Casa, has residents and professors taking a step back to evaluate its growth.
Former resident Lindsay Palinsky, a no-preference sophomore, hopes the program's participants will learn to overcome challenges with the language by encouraging and evaluating the use of Spanish.
"At floor dinners we were supposed to only speak Spanish, but we spoke English all the time and no one was there to monitor it," she said about her experience on La Casa last year.
But speaking entirely Spanish has proved troublesome for some students because of their different proficiency levels in the language, said Spanish sophomore Emily Vercammen, who also lived on La Casa last year. She said people should wait to live on the floor until they are more fluent in the language.
"I feel it should be more of a program you work towards," Vercammen said.
But Spanish department specialist Jade Sims said fluency is not the floor's only goal.
"It is a difficult request if there aren't any native speakers living there," Sims said. "The larger focus of the floor is the cultural experience."
La Casa - "the house" in Spanish - is on part of McDonel Hall's third floor.
The living option, initiated by the Spanish Department, works to increase Spanish fluency by immersing students in the atmosphere. Residents of La Casa are encouraged to socialize in and outside of McDonel Hall.
"Last year, every other Monday a group met in the west lounge to casually speak Spanish and go to dinner," Hall Manager Chandos McCoy said. "It was a neat opportunity for socialization, and everyone was invited."
All La Casa residents are enrolled in a one-credit class that requires practicing Spanish communication and participating in Spanish Department activities.
La Casa also provides a sense of community for many of its students. Alison Yamez-McKay, an international relations sophomore and a native of Mexico, hopes to feel more at home in La Casa.
"Hopefully I'll find people interested in my culture, and just meet people like me - international and open-minded," she said. "You can get so lost here at State. I thought I could make my own little community on this floor."
This year, 12 students are living on La Casa. Candace Shankin, the resident mentor for the hall, said she's encouraging residents to embrace the language this year.
"It provides a really good opportunity to practice Spanish where you live," she said. "It's good for people who can't afford or can't fit study abroad into their schedules."
Palinsky said the floor's atmosphere is likely affected because not all students living on the floor are part of La Casa.
The La Casa program prompted talk of adding more residential programs with international focus to McDonel Hall, which already has special programs for community building. Specifically, a community-building residential option for international and American citizen students may be added to the hall.
"It'll be nice for students who may or may not be able to fit language and culture in their schedule," Sims said. "It's a pull for international and American students who want a cultural and international experience at MSU.
"There are things in the works."
Yamez-McKay hopes to engage in that same open-minded mentality with American students in La Casa this year.
"We'll teach each other about our culture," she said. "It's all about learning and respecting."
