Computer science major Aldo Barrera is taking a gap year between the avenues of supportive opportunity opened at Santa Monica College — including SMC Promise, which offers two years of free tuition to eligible students — and his university transfer to pursue a different learning path as a language assistant in Spain.
He teaches English to nearly 200 students in second to sixth in Ontinyent, a municipality near Valencia. His duties also include serving as a cultural ambassador to help build mutual understanding between countries.
“Being at this school makes me feel like I’m really doing something important,” Barrera said of his posting, which comes through the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP), an initiative of the Embassy of Spain’s Education Office. In the paid position, which lasts through May, he works under the guidance of local teachers…