You may know Stephanie Altschul ’25 as your next student body president, CAP member, or Model UN delegate, but what many don’t know is that Altschul also has a passion for language that has taken her academic journey on an unconventional path.
Altschul began her experience studying Spanish in sixth grade.
Through spending a significant amount of time studying Spanish outside of school and via immersion programs, she was able to take AP Spanish, the most difficult Spanish class offered, during her sophomore year of high school.
Most students take this class in their senior year, or not at all.
Students and teachers alike recognize her passion and aptitude for linguistics and agree that she has been an integral part of the world languages program at the School.
“She had demonstrated an aptitude for second language learning, worked hard at perfecting her proficiency, worked outside the classroom, spoke in the target language whenever she was able to,” Goldberger said. “If you know Stephanie, she is a well-rounded critical thinker.”
After finishing the Spanish curriculum last year, Stephanie has moved on to French, beginning in Ms. Diana Scherrer’s French III course after completing a French summer immersion course before her junior year.
“She’s a language person, and luckily she likes [languages],” Scherrer said. “She’s certainly been able to hold her own and she asks really good questions. She’s clearly very passionate about languages in general.”
When asked about her passion for linguistics, Altschul reflects that she first discovered this passion when she learned how to fully commit to speaking Spanish.
“When I began to understand Spanish, I felt like a switch was clicked in my brain, and that switch hasn’t been flipped back,” Altschul said.
Mirna Goldberger, who teaches AP Spanish, emphasizes the hard work that taking AP Spanish requires. She believes that Stephanie’s drive as a student, especially as a sophomore in an advanced language class, has allowed her to succeed in this way.
In addition, Altschul finds that her ability to speak multiple languages has helped her become a better student outside of the Spanish classroom.
“I feel like the ability to think and communicate in a different tongue has helped me beyond being able to speak with people who aren’t native English speakers—but has also aided me in better communicating with my peers and teachers,” Altschul said.
Not to mention, Altschul’s passion for linguistics has inspired her peers, such as her good friend Abby Jacobs ‘25.
“I struggle with language learning, but I think she’s really just a language person and is so, so passionate,” Jacobs said. “She gets really excited and it’s really inspiring to see her work so hard and be able to exceed all expectations.
Altschul intends to hold herself to high standards throughout higher education and is determined to keep learning more about linguistics.
“Postgrad, I hope to major in linguistics in college. I would love to pursue foreign language teaching, translation, linguistic anthropology, or another subset of linguistics,” Altschul said. “I haven’t made up my mind entirely on what I’d like to do, but I know that I hope to continue communicating and having important conversations with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives.”
