Jeffers Receives National Gabriela Mistral Award For Success in Academics, Leadership, Initiative  

Gayle Jeffers (M.A. Romance Languages, TTU), President of Texas Tech University's Alpha Phi Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, received the prestigious Gabriela Mistral Award for her academic achievements and noteworthy leadership and initiative in the TTU chapter. The Gabriela Mistral Award is granted by Sigma Delta Pi's national executive committee and is reserved for outstanding graduate or undergraduate students of Spanish who are active members of Sigma Delta Pi.

As president of Sigma Delta Pi, Jeffers initiated "Inglés para familias hispanas" (English for Hispanic Families), a program that offers English classes to Spanish-speaking immigrants in the Lubbock area. Jeffers said the large response from the community inspired her group to extend the program by also offering Spanish lessons to those interested in either learning conversational Spanish or improving their current level of Spanish.

"For the last two years, I was responsible for planning, organizing and teaching the classes," Jeffers said.

Jeffers, who hails from the Caribbean island of Nevis, currently is a doctoral student in Bilingual Education in TTU's College of Education. She said that she looks for every opportunity to encourage others to study another language. "I visit various classrooms here at Texas Tech as well as other schools within the Lubbock ISD and speak about the importance of studying language," she said.

Jeffers credits her work as president of Sigma Delta Pi for the experiences that have sharpened her leadership skills. "There is a lot planning and collaborating that goes into informing other students groups, the faculty and staff of Texas Tech and the Lubbock community about our numerous activities," she said.

As she looks to the future, Jeffers said she wants to teach and inspire language learners, specifically learners of the Spanish language. "My ardent pursuit of studying Spanish, along with learning about its origins, customs, and traditions, as well as the heritage and culture of its people, is attributed to the encouragement of my previous professors of Spanish as well as my current academic adviser," she said.

By working closely with the chapter's adviser, Jeffers said she has developed skills that will be applicable when she reaches her goal of becoming a professor of Spanish. "I desire more than just teaching basic language skills. I want to be a person of influence in the lives of my students," she said.