Growing up, senior Ella Fry spent a lot of time speaking Spanish with the employees at her mother’s bakery, forging a bond she said she only could have created through shared laughter, culture and above all, language. 

Fry said, “I still remember Silvia, one of the women working with my mom, could only speak Spanish–so I began to help her with English, but I realized I myself had never tried to learn the language. From that point forward, my love and motivation for learning Spanish grew, and that led to my involvement in immersion programs.” 

Fry participated in the 2025 Indiana University Honors in Foreign Language Program (IUHFLP) Spanish immersion trip to Oviedo, Spain.

“It was five weeks long, and though I started out good at Spanish, I came out of the experience with a whole new perspective and more confidence in my abilities,” Fry said.  

Fry is among many individuals who choose to participate in foreign language immersion programs. In fact, according to the Council on National Educational Exchange, summer abroad immersion programs offer numerous benefits for high school students and their process of learning a foreign language. Their studies show that, though only 2% of students participate in these programs—cost being a huge obstacle–the vast majority of individuals involved substantially increased their capacity for language learning. Additionally, Fry said she was motivated by the fact that Spanish is one of the fastest growing global languages. 

Junior Evan Glushik went on the IUHFLP trip in the summer of 2025 as well, but to a different location: Almeria, Spain. 

“I thought it would be difficult, with the no-phones rule—a prison type situation,” Glushik said with a smile. “Not having access to my phone for nearly a month ordinarily would be nearly impossible, but in reality the rule helped me bond with the people around me: my host family and my peers.”

Fry said she agreed with the sentiment. She said that because of the connections formed during the course of her stay in Oviedo, her experience was instrumental in both helping her develop language skills and creating long-lasting relationships with others. 

Fry said, “The most valuable part of the trip was my connection with my host family and friends that I made in the program. I would’ve never met people like this in any other context and they are some of the most genuine and best people I know. We experienced a lot together, learned a lot and have more personal bonds than I’d say a connection at school may have.”  

Matthew Cinkoske, a world language teacher and director of the Japanese exchange program, said the benefits of language immersion are plenty.

“The biggest benefits of linguistic immersion programs is the extremely high amount of input students are getting from a variety of sources,” he said. “It’s also nice because students need to communicate. You don’t really learn a language very well until you need to do something with it, so it (exchange programs) provides that opportunity for students.”

Both Fry and Glushik said much of their growth happened outside the classroom, in moments that felt small at the time but became unforgettable. They spoke about navigating grocery store aisles lined with unfamiliar brands, stopping for tapas with friends after class and relying entirely on Spanish when asking for directions. For both, these experiences reinforced that fluency is built in everyday life, not just in the classroom. 

Glushik said, “It was hard at first, because I couldn’t use Google translate to look up an unfamiliar word. I had to instead use context and different ways to explain that one word without using it, which is actually a good exercise in Spanish. That actually helped me improve overall, though. At one point during the trip, I was on the beach getting ice cream, and the server asked me what part of Spain I was from. That was really cool and I could tell that my Spanish was improving substantially.” 

Cinkoske agreed with that sentiment. 

“These kinds of programs that are much more immersive offer opportunities for students to get more hands-on experience, speaking and listening to people,” he said. 

Fry added that these moments of full immersion made the experience feel less like a trip and more like a temporary life in Spain. 

“You stop feeling like a tourist,” she said. “You’re not just visiting, you’re living there, even if it’s only for a few weeks. That mindset really changes how much you take in and your capacity to learn about the people, language, and culture.”

Both Glushik and Fry said that their experiences in immersion programs were impactful, aiding in their understanding of language and culture. 

Fry said, “I would 100% recommend this program and plan on speaking about it. I’d tell them going in, it is going to be the best summer of your life, you’re going to learn a lot, meet a lot of new people and build connections that truly will last a lifetime.”