Classroom with hexagonal tables grouped together, each surrounded by chairs and topped with colorful bins and red folders. Walls are decorated with international flags, a world map, a green bulletin board with papers, and a chart titled 'Order of Operations.' An American flag is near a whiteboard at the front of the room. The room is well-lit with ceiling lights and fans.

Where Language Meets Purpose: Mikaela’s Story

Published Sep 24, 2025 by
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When Mikaela first arrived at East Carolina University, Spanish was just a minor and teaching wasn’t even on the radar. That changed quickly. A high school mission trip to the Dominican Republic had planted the seed: “I fell in love with trying to understand people in their language.” But it was a class with Professor Juan Escourido that transformed curiosity into conviction. By the end of that semester, she’d declared a Spanish major and set her sights on teaching, drawn to the vibrant mix of language, culture, and community she found in Foreign Languages and Literatures (FLL).

Faculty mentorship proved pivotal. Her first Spanish course at ECU with Profe. Sarah Tyson revealed that teaching could be joyful. Courses with Dr. Almitra Medina in phonetics and phonology, and guidance from Dr. Laura Levi Altstaedter, sharpened her classroom skills and patience, especially handy when technology misbehaves. Research with Dr. Dylan Jarrett opened another door: linguistics and the deeper mechanics of language. That blend of human connection and intellectual rigor became Mikaela’s signature.

Study abroad sealed the deal. In Buenos Aires, she led a geo-mapping research project that challenged her to problem-solve, take initiative, and envision her academic future. It was there she decided to pursue graduate study. Today, Mikaela is both a first-year M.A. student in FLL and a full-time middle-school Spanish teacher, living proof that applied language study and advanced scholarship can thrive together.

Photo of Mikaela Trank-Shelp in her classroom where she teaches middle school students.

Photo of Mikaela Trank-Shelp in her classroom where she teaches middle school students.

Her teaching days defy routine. Mikaela teaches eight classes across grades 5 to 8, reaching nearly 200 students weekly. She sees the wide age range as a strength. Fifth and sixth graders invite cultural exploration through songs, stories, and celebrations. Seventh and eighth graders allow her to deepen language proficiency and coach toward milestones like the AAPPL exam. She’s especially drawn to sixth graders, saying “we’re both new to middle school,” and to eighth graders who remember her from last year’s internship. Continuity matters. So does humility. When she slips into Spanish mid-explanation and sees puzzled faces, she laughs, resets, and models the bilingual toggling that defines real-world language use.

What lessons from FLL echo in her classroom? First, mentorship by example. Mikaela builds support and structure the way her professors did, challenging without overwhelming and encouraging without indulging. Second, interdisciplinary collaboration. Time spent with faculty outside Hispanic Studies, like Dr. Jill Twark in German, taught her that communities of practice, not just disciplines, shape great teaching. Third, cultural stewardship. Mikaela treats culture not as a display but as a shared experience. “The best way to honor cultures is to share them, because the more you share them, the more they grow.”

Outside the classroom, she stays immersed in Spanish through regular calls with her Argentine host family (and recipe swaps with her host mom), Spanish-language media, and international news. Her travel goals remain active: Granada for Islamic architecture and the layered history of convivencia, Peru for Indigenous cultures, and Costa Rica to witness biodiversity without disturbing it.

Asked to name a defining ECU moment, Mikaela recalls a conversation with Dr. Levi Altstaedter about a grammatically shaky poster she’d mentally corrected. She worried she was being too picky. Dr. Levi Altstaedter reframed it as a teacher’s instinct, the impulse to notice, diagnose, and improve language in the wild. That was her “you’re ready” moment.

Her advice to current students? Follow the spark, then find mentors who help you turn it into sustained practice. Mikaela didn’t choose between research and teaching, or between culture and grammar. She wove them together. Now, in a bustling middle-school hallway, she watches the “click” of understanding cross a student’s face and sees the same loop closing that began for her at ECU. That is the work, and the reward, of Foreign Languages and Literatures.