Tragedy in the Allagash UM Spanish major put workers at ease

On an August night, Julia Monley of Bangor sat in an apartment with several foreign workers from Central America and made herself at home. The University of Maine senior not only could understand their language – she is fluent in Spanish – but she knew the men’s customs and their cultures and easily picked up conversations with them.

Monley, who is majoring in Spanish, was hired by the Bangor Daily News to interpret the workers’ remarks about conditions in the forestry industry into English for a reporter. Earlier this summer, Monley spent two months in a volunteer program at schools in Nicaragua. She told the men she loves their homelands and they appeared at ease talking to her.

Monley’s senior honors project will be looking at Spanish assistance programs that are available statewide for foreign and migrant workers and their families.