The Northern Iowan en Español Earns UNI Community Engagement Award

Click to read this article in Spanish.

Three years ago, two editors at The Northern Iowan, Nixson Benitez, a heritage speaker of Spanish, and Elizabeth Kelsey, a Spanish major, came up with the idea to translate some of their articles into Spanish. Thus, The Northern Iowan en Español (NIE in short) was born.

The NIE started small, as a mere side tab on the web of the student newspaper, but little by little the project started generating attention. Today, the NIE has its own Spanish editor and devoted writers and translators. The project has been fully integrated into two translation courses at UNI, has collaborated with the Marshalltown High School, and its articles appear regularly on the front page of the print edition of The Northern Iowan.

And now, more than a hundred articles (both translations and originals), more than thirty translators and three Spanish editors later, The Northern Iowan en Español is proud to have received the “Service-Learning/Live Client Project” award at the UNI Community Engagement Celebration Day, which was held at the lobby of the GBPAC on April 28.

The NIE was represented at the event by the Spanish Editor, Karina Ortiz, as well as the students taking the course Translation for Heritage Speakers, who were responsible for many of the translations for the NIE this semester. This group of students also worked on the display for the NIE table at the GBPAC.

Kristina Kofoot, UNI's Assistant Director for Community Engagement, explained some of the criteria used to decide the award, including the visual presentation of the project, the explanation of its objectives and outcomes, and its influence in the community and in the students taking part in it. Kofoot added that the award judges included members of UNI's faculty and administration, and of the Cedar Valley community.

According to Kofoot, the judges who visited the NIE table at the event highlighted its visual presentation, which included a display of newspaper clippings showing the original articles and their translations, along with print copies of the newspaper, and QR codes that visitors could use to check out the NIE online

Judges also emphasized the level of student engagement in the project, and their ability to explain its objectives and its outcomes. Kofoot highlighted that the students present at the event demonstrated their ownership of the project, their enthusiasm for it and showed how proud they are of their work. "That was key," said Kofoot, who was impressed by the students' involvement: "The students showed how they have learned from this opportunity and how they can apply their experience to their future careers. For them, it wasn't just a project they did for a class. They are excited. They want to own it."

The entire archive of The Northern Iowan en Español is available online. 

NOTE: This article originally appeared on 30 August 2023 in The Northern Iowan.