An update from freshman Justin Chhoeun, a biochemistry major and Spanish minor who is also taking pre-pharmacy prerequisites at Illinois State.

I’ve been in love with learning Spanish ever since seventh grade. I am more for the technical points in the language, such as grammar and phonetics, but learning how to speak more fluently is just as fun.  Thankfully, I took the AP Spanish Language test and earned a 5.  My minor doesn’t require me to take many classes, especially after placing in SPA 213.

Being a language minor does not stress me at all because going to class is always fun and laid-back. I do research for one of my professors and I am part of some clubs such as Spanish Club of which I am also the VP.  It’s fun to hear all levels of Spanish. Right now my class load is low, but the classes I am in are heavy in work, so I am basically studying most of the time.

What I like the most about minoring in Spanish is that I get to meet the faculty of a different department and broaden my range of professors I can connect with.  I have not studied abroad because unfortunately, my major makes it very difficult to do this.  As of now  my main goal is to get into pharmacy school and become a clinical pharmacist. If necessary, my second plan would be to do research in a laboratory.