Meet our Current Students:
Camila Gomez, Colombia

in Highlight
December 14th, 2017

Current CELOP student Camila Gomez, with one of her favorite books, Little Women.

When Camila Gomez first came to CELOP in Summer 2017, she was initially planning on staying for only 6 weeks. “I wasn’t going to come back after the summer, but after I studied here for 6 weeks, I liked it so much that I convinced my parents to let me come back to study more.”

Now studying in CELOP’s 12-week Part-Time 10 program, Camila credits both her classmates and teachers for making her experience so impactful. “During summer it was incredible. I think my proficiency really changed. The level of my classmates was incredible. It was a very, very good group. It really helped me. Also, my teachers were incredible—they are incredible human beings.”

Camila, who is originally from Bogota, Colombia, has had a particularly meaningful experience at CELOP this Fall, being so inspired by her teachers that she is now planning on becoming a teacher herself.

“I am 24, and after working with my teacher Pam Steeves, now I know how to read. I knew how to read before, but Pam taught me how to really understand what I am reading. I got very good grades in university and in my first master’s degree, but I think that if I had Pam first before all of that, I would have enjoyed reading much more. My other teacher Michelle Smith, every time I go to her class, I realize that teaching is what I want to do with my life.”

When asked what her favorite memory at CELOP has been, Camila described a major accomplishment she reached—finishing The Great Gatsby in English. “This summer I lived in front of Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I would sit outside the museum this summer and read The Great Gatsby. My Dad gave me the book a while ago, but I never finished it. I wasn’t understanding what I was reading. But after coming to CELOP, it helped me be able to read this book. When I read the last line, which reads: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past, I said to myself, ‘This is so huge in life—being able to read this.’ I was so grateful that after 6 weeks, I was able to read this book in English. This is one of my favorite memories, being able to read this.”

Camila, who is finishing up her thesis for her Master’s in Children’s Literature from a university in Spain, is currently applying for a Master’s of Arts in English, hoping to eventually return home to Colombia to teach. “I see my teachers doing their work with so much happiness and responsibility. It inspires me. After CELOP, everything changed. My dream job now is to be a teacher.”