World language CAPS instructor Janet Graham will host a district-wide social gathering for all Blue Valley world language honor societies and students enrolled in a world language class Jan. 21 at 5 p.m. at the CAPS building.

Graham said this is an event with many purposes, one of them being to advertise her CAPS class.

“Students who are taking a world language [will be encouraged to] take the CAPS program and to see the possibilities they could do their junior or senior year,” Graham said.  “They could take a two hour class here so they wouldn’t have to drop their world language class to take their three hour CAPS class.”

BVNW Spanish Honor Society sponsor and Spanish teacher Heather Martens said another reason CAPS is hosting this event is to give students the opportunity to talk to local business executives from other countries.

“[Graham] is also bringing in people from different companies – officials  who speak Spanish, deal with Spanish and other languages like French and German,” Martens said. “The students will be able to network with these people a little bit during this…session.”

Both Martens and Graham said they think learning a foreign language can benefit someone later in their life.   

“Studying a foreign language can really set you apart in a job interview,” Graham said. “The other real advantage is that students who study a foreign language also learn about different cultures and diversity, so they also have a much more open mind about doing global business and working in the world.”

Nikhit Chimalakonda, the president of Spanish National Honor Society, said he wants to attend this event because he plans to implement his knowledge of Spanish in his future career.

“For me it is mostly just seeing how language is used in your everyday life after high school,” Chimalakonda said. “I want to go into the medical profession, so…just being able to know how to interact with someone is I think the most important thing I will get out of this.”

Graham said she hopes students will come out of tomorrow’s event with a better understanding of the CAPS program, more knowledge about foreign language opportunities in Blue Valley and a greater understanding of the importance of foreign languages are in the world of business.   

“[A reason for coming to this event is] just seeing that there are a lot of students in the district studying languages,” Graham said. “Just having a bigger picture that it’s not just a classroom of 20 or 30 students and just catching the enthusiasm and seeing a lot of students who are passionate about languages and traveling to a different country.”