ASU student meshes classics studies with Teach For America

Abigail Bardales is now an alumni of Arizona State University after graduating in early May from Barrett, The Honors College.  

With a double major in history and anthropology, a minor in theater and a certificate in classics, Bardales is far from the average student.

Her love for classics, specifically Latin, became her passion inside and outside of the classroom. In fact, Bardales said that the majority of her extracurricular activities were somehow related to classics: She was the president of the Latin Honors Society and the treasurer of the Classics Club.

“People don’t realize that everything you learn in classics can be applied to pretty much anything else because you’re learning critical thinking skills, you're learning historical context, you're learning all of these things that help you be a more effective learner,” Bardales said.  

She started learning Latin in third grade and continued through her college years. Her passion for classics led her to do her honors thesis through the School of International Letters and Cultures.

Now, Bardales is taking part in Teach For America — a program that sends college graduates to teach children somewhere in the United States.

Bardales was inspired to apply after realizing that all of her previous teachers made her love education and her studies. She wants to do the same by incorporating interdisciplinary studies in her middle school language arts classroom.

“One of the biggest goals I have for my classroom is to integrate a lot of my historical and anthropological knowledge into … literary knowledge and make the subjects mesh very well together. I think it’s important to emphasize that interdisciplinary learning,” she said.  

Bardales also said that classics will be able to help her in the classroom because it’s expanded her knowledge on how to think critically and her ability to read and write well.  

“I’m most looking forward to … being able to spend an entire year in a classroom with students and to be able to see the impact I have on their lives,” she said. “Teachers inspire you and make you passionate about something."