Jackson Havens

2016 Fulbright Scholar

Hometown

Westfield, IN

Majors

Linguistics and Spanish

College

College of Liberal Arts

 

Jackson is dedicated to helping others develop their confidence when learning to speak a new language. He was influenced by the book Through the Language Glass, which argues that language is a lens that colors the way we view the world. Inspired by this idea, Jackson has learned both Spanish and is now learning Mandarin Chinese, and enthusiastically teaches others. 

 

Jackson worked at the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy (LARA) as an English Teaching Assistant five days a week. Recognizing that speaking can be the most intimidating aspect of learning a new language, he guides students through pronunciation practice. “I want everyone to WANT to speak the language,” he writes, and to be able to do so with confidence.

 

Awarded the Linda C. Shackman Memorial Scholarship in Foreign Languages this year, Jackson’s next step is to take up a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain, where he will teach English and also volunteer with Coordinadora Infantil Y Juvenil de Tiempo Libre de Vallecas, an organization that provides support to disadvantaged teens.

 

After returning to the US, Jackson plans to pursue a masters in Computational Linguistics at the University of Colorado and hopes to research Natural Language Processing and lead a team in the language learning software industry in the future. Patricia Maxwell, who supervised Jackson at LARA, writes, “I believe his adventurous personality and appreciation for people and new surroundings would be warmly welcomed in Spain or wherever he goes.”