Middlebury Language Schools: A Summer Experience Like No Other
Incumbent Gold Ancient Mariner, Capt. Patrick Culver retired in 2023. His next adventure? Our 7-week School of Spanish.
Patrick Culver
Patrick Culver, who retired in 2023 after 42 years of military service, wanted to take his Spanish skills to the next level. In summer 2025, he utilized his Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement benefits to attend our 7-week immersive School of Spanish.
Patrick shares about his experience at the School of Spanish immersion program…
Magical. Difficult. Fun. Exciting. Frustrating. Life-changing. These words describe the summer language program at Middlebury College. Unsurpassed beauty. Architectural splendor.
A rural respite from everyday life in an environment wholly conducive to learning among the best language professors in the world. A proven method of immersive language learning surrounded by nice people, beautiful people, engaged in the pursuit of higher education. Opening doors through words and creating opportunities to improve ourselves, our world, and each other by learning to communicate in another language.
In sum, the Middlebury Language Schools summer programs are amazing, even life-changing.
We arrived not knowing what to expect. We wondered where we would board and with whom, where our classes were, and at what time. The introduction at the chapel was a huge, emotionally charged, and fun way to start. The signing of the Language Pledge® followed the school introductions as the sun set over campus. The soft glow of the walkway lights and campus buildings was framed by the mountains to the east and created a scene right out of a movie. Such was the natural splendor.
Combined with the pledge, the commitment to the school, to ourselves, and to each other that we would honor our words and be obliged to conduct ourselves accordingly and make the most of our time and our sacrifices.
The School of Spanish students met for the first time at Bicentennial Hall with great cheer and enthusiasm as strangers rounded a circle and gave the 30-second introductory speech. Our classes were divided up after interviews and essay submissions, and four sections were created among total strangers who would grow to be friends over seven weeks. Not one of us knew what awaited, but the anticipation was palpable and nervous smiles, las sonrisas mas bellas, were on full display.
Not being biased, merely an observer, but the School of Spanish students seemed to smile more, laugh more than students from other schools. Maybe that’s a feature of the Hispanohablante community. Scratch that word, maybe. It is a distinct cultural advantage.
The talent pool of actors, musicians, athletes, writers, and artists found homes in the co-curricular activities that are essential parts of the immersive process. Students average 12 to 14 contact hours per day. We ate as a community. We danced as a community. We experienced theater, cabaret, choir, round table presentations, art, poetry, athletic competition, and more during our seven weeks at school.
We witnessed English as a Second Language teachers become stars of the stage, shining brilliantly, radiantly beautiful, and handsome. We heard musical virtuosos share their talents with rapt audiences. We heard voices that sang so lovely in Spanish that the angels blushed.
Courage and acceptance ruled the day. The courage to participate and risk failure, and the acceptance of the gathered bodies to admire and appreciate the talent and courage of those who performed, was kindness and dignity personified.
The students brought the house down in the best of all possible ways.
The Middlebury Language Schools transport one to a magical language colony. Young and not-so-young people can transform into stars if only for a summer. The vibrant talents of our community were on full display and enhanced our experiences.
The encouragement given to the creative nature of us students was wonderful and gave rise to dreams and ambitions, mostly dreamt of and rarely realized in our everyday lives, but made real over the course of a summer.
There is academic rigor. The rigor is integral to the learning environment and leaves students with a real sense of accomplishment, even with average letter grades. There is a sense of obligation to do well, to perform well in one’s studies.
Good professors bring that sense of obligation out to their students. Students want to excel, loathe disappointing their professors, and seek to encourage each other as a family unit, as a comunidad. Juan Manuel Menjivar did that for me, and I am forever grateful.
Director Jacobo Sefamí and company created a wonderfully efficient and truly Hispanic community and allowed us all to participate fully. The doors are open.
We have newfound and improved abilities to communicate with other people, understand other cultures, bridge gaps, create opportunities for resolutions, and, most importantly, talk with our partners in this world and avoid conflict through better communication.
Connect with an ambassador from our immersion or graduate programs at the School of Spanish.
Applications for summer 2026 open on November 3, 2025.
Gather your materials to apply to our School of Spanish here.
