If you’ve ever been lucky enough to take a Spanish course with Professor Freear-Papio, you know that she is a brilliant, dynamic, and positive person. Not only is she the director of the Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) program and a Spanish lecturer, she is approachable and fun outside of the classroom. This week I had the chance to speak to her about her twenty-two years at Holy Cross. Ironically, Professor Papio first ended up at HC to fill in for Professor O’Connell-Inman, a former Campus Celebrity! When Professor O’Connell-Inman went on maternity leave, Professor Papio had just received her PhD from the University of Connecticut. She comments that since then, she has been “connected at the hip” with Professor O’Connell-Inman. They are both keeping HC in the family, as each of them now have two daughters who are currently students on the Hill.
When I asked her what has kept her at HC for twenty-two years, Professor Papio quickly answered, “the students.” She feels that we are a group of passionate students that are fun to teach. Also, her position as a Spanish professor has given her the opportunity to encourage students to go abroad and experience another culture. She finds this aspect of her job very rewarding, as we come back from abroad with an open world-view after stepping outside the Holy Cross bubble. As a self-proclaimed Spanish-major recruiter, Intermediate Spanish is one of her favorite classes to teach. At this level, she says it is important to be a strong teacher who can get students excited about learning Spanish. Professor Papio’s other favorite class to teach is her Lorca seminar, as she finds the themes of his work to still be very relevant today.
Professor Papio’s involvement outside the classroom at Holy Cross makes her a truly incredible professor. When asked about some of her favorite memories at HC, she mentioned taking her Lorca seminar to a play in New York City and cooking paella for her Spanish culture class after a field trip to the Goya exhibit at the MFA. Professor Papio understands the importance of experiential learning, and goes above and beyond to connect the classroom to the real world. She says that the number one item on her HC bucket list would be teaching a class in English, as it is something she has never had the chance to do and “it seems super intimidating!” Professor Papio shared that she would love this challenge in a Montserrat or English class.
Lastly, I asked Professor Papio for a piece of advice she would give to her students, and I really loved her answer. She wants all of us to remember that, “What you’re good at and what you love probably are the same thing, so don’t be afraid to follow that path.” As college students, we inevitably spend a lot of time thinking about the future. However, embracing the things that we enjoy and excel in will probably lead us exactly where we belong. Thank you to Professor Papio for being a wonderful role model on the Hill!