Michelle Morales Contributes to Award-Winning Book

2016 Oct 20

Michelle Morales of North Rose, NY, contributed to an award-winning book in which 29 Latino students and recent alumni of SUNY Oneonta recount their experiences growing up with two languages and two cultures, and similar life struggles.

"Mi vida en los Estados Unidos, jovenes hispanohablantes cuentan sus experiencias" (or "My Life in the United States, Young Hispanic Heritage Language Speakers Write About Their Experiences") won two awards at the Latino Literacy Now's International Latino Book Awards.

Maria Cristina Montoya, assistant professor of Foreign Languages & Literature at SUNY Oneonta, edited the book, which won first place in the Most Inspirational Nonfiction category and second place for Best Autobiography.

The student writings came out of Montoya's "Spanish for Bilinguals" course for native Spanish speakers. "The development of a step-by-step writing process motivated these students to write fluently while turning an oral, private language into a written, public one," Montoya said. "This methodology promotes creativity, discussions about dual identity, future goals, and responsibilities as a growing minority in the U.S. Students also learn syntactic rules, orthography and stylistics."

Morales is majoring in Spanish at SUNY Oneonta.

The awards were presented in September during a ceremony at California State University in Los Angeles. Morales received funding from SUNY Oneonta's D’Antonio Undergraduate Student Travel for Excellence Fund and the Student Travel for Excellence Program in order to attend the awards ceremony and a book panel at the Latino Book and Family Festival.