John Redlin’s Latino friends call him Juan, the Spanish equivalent of his English name. The Spanish student speaks the language interjected with Mexican slang, his girlfriend is from Peru and he frequently volunteers at Hispanic community events.
A non-Hispanic, Redlin said his ties to the Raleigh Latino community have enriched his experience as a Spanish major, but in the past, his Spanish education was limited to studying literature.
Last year, Shelley Garrigan, a professor of Spanish, said she remembers students like Redlin asking her for opportunities to practice their Spanish outside the classroom. Garrigan and Spanish lecturer James McConnell started a program for Spanish students to practice their communication skills with native speakers while engaging in service in the Hispanic community. They call it “VOLAR,” short for Voluntarios Ahora en Raleigh/Volunteers Now in Raleigh.
“This was the product of student requests, and I was tired of not having viable answers for students who wanted to practice conversational Spanish,” Garrigan said. “I noticed how many outreach opportunities there are locally and the increase in the Hispanic population. It seemed like we could have a positive impact — we could get students to practice Spanish and serve the community.”
VOLAR has recruited Spanish students with enough proficiency to converse with Latino immigrants and native speakers, and students work as translators or volunteers for existing service organizations and agencies.
“We’re only here to help and give back,” Garrigan said. “All of our partnerships are well established in Raleigh, so we don’t have to re-invent the system.”
Garrigan called projects like VOLAR the “missing piece,” of Spanish education, and Redlin said it rivals studying abroad.
“In many classes, we don’t get to interact with many people from Latin America,” Redlin said. “I studied abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico, but sometimes I think, ‘Why study abroad when you can start right here in North Carolina?’”
Redlin and Shannon Vought, both seniors in Spanish and sociology, are student representatives for VOLAR, and according to Vought, VOLAR is more than practicing Spanish, but connecting with the Hispanic community.
“When you go to volunteer, you don’t feel like you’re trespassing on people assuming they are just tools to practice Spanish, but you’re actually getting to make a difference in the community,” Vought said. “I enjoy learning about their culture and their struggles, and though I think many of the immigrants we work with have a better life in the United State, that life is harder. But as college students, I think we can more easily put ourselves in the situation of the people we work with.”
Garrigan said there are many services for Latinos in the community, but the need is still great. No matter what event, Garrigan said there is a demand for volunteers.
The state’s Hispanic community experienced the greatest growth in the U.S. between 1990 and 2000, with an increase of 397 percent, according to the North Carolina Language and Life Project. That boom isn’t just tied to immigration: According to the Office of the Governor, native births of people of Latino heritage have recently surpassed the immigration rate into the state.
The influx not only prompted the government of Mexico to open a full-time consulate office in Raleigh, but also fostered more than 100 Latino service organizations in the state, many located in the City of Oaks.
Vought said that the services VOLAR provides isn’t just for Latinos, but there is a reciprocity.
“The more we get involved, there’s more of a mutual benefit,” Vought said. “It’s symbiotic in a way. We all impact each other. We can all work together, and we can all help each other.”