A Future in Language Education with Cooper Clendenin ’24

Cooper Clendenin, a 2024 magna cum laude graduate, majored in international languages and cultures: Spanish, with a minor in sociology. A four-year member of the men’s varsity soccer team, Cooper was inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma student-athlete honor society. During his senior year, he earned a Global Scholars Distinction after presenting on the professional benefits of his study abroad experience in Granada, Spain, and he was later invited to join Phi Beta Kappa. Cooper’s St. Mary's Project focused on the Sociopolitical Context of Street Art in Argentina, a topic he has since explored further through solo travel around Argentina, observing the very murals he researched. Recently, he completed a certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Cooper is about to embark on a new chapter of post-grad life in Portland, Maine, where he’ll be living with his sister Marley. If awarded a Fulbright grant in Spain, he is eager to deepen his passion for language education, intercultural communication, and foreign immersion. Cooper says, “I am incredibly grateful for the support I’ve received at St. Mary’s College and honored to be a Fulbright Semi-Finalist.”