Thriving through the storm

A transfer in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Delisse Rosa Aponte found her footing at TU

By Megan Bradshaw on December 10, 2019

Delisse Rosa Aponte

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. The worst storm to strike the island in more than 80 years forced an estimated 130,000 people from their homes.

Including Towson University senior Delisse Rosa Aponte.

The native of Bayamón—a town just outside the Puerto Rican capital—relocated to Laurel, Maryland, with her now-husband Julio Quiros. Aponte was studying Italian and French at Universidad de Puerto Rico before the hurricane, and she began looking for a university to finish her degree. Quiros’ aunt, with whom they were living, suggested TU. 

In the spring of 2018, Aponte enrolled in the foreign languages major in the College of Liberal Arts, while her husband studied human resources in the College of Business and Economics.

“When I first came, my goal was just to finish my bachelor’s degree and go home,” Aponte says. “I was working in a Laurel movie theater, so I had no time to get involved in anything at the university. 

“But this last year, I've met a lot of people from my classes,” she continues. “It's been really fun getting to know them, and the professors have been really, really supportive of me.”

Aponte has also taken the opportunity to study abroad. In the January 2019 minimester, she traveled to Venice with Italian professor Margherita Pampinella. Aponte’s advanced Italian language group studied the country’s history through its relationship to food.

“It was an absolute incredible experience that I totally recommend everybody do because it's just incredible,” she says. “Margherita Pampinella was like a mom, a friend, a guide, everything. It was perfect.”

Aponte’s husband works at the National Security Agency (NSA) in recruiting, and Aponte sees a lot of potential in her own future. She values her multilingual and multicultural fluencies and wants to use them to help others through education or translation services. 

The couple is based in Laurel for now, but Aponte and Quiros hope to return to Puerto Rico someday. 

For now, Aponte advises future TU foreign languages students to get involved on campus but still work hard. 

“It is something that somebody has to be very, very disciplined in studying and study every single day,” she stresses. “You definitely have to have passion for it because it's not easy.”

MORE INFORMATION

Studying foreign languages at TU

Take the language skills that you have learned here at Towson University and seamlessly apply them to your daily life and career. The Foreign Languages Department offers undergraduate programs in Chinese, French, French education, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Spanish education.