Languages & Cultures

Anne Marie Buckles was born and raised in Long Island, New York. She graduated from Farmingdale Sr. High School in Farmingdale, N.Y. and obtained an Associates in Applied Science for Medical Laboratory Technology from Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, N.Y. Anne has worked at the American Red Cross in Albany, NY and for Centura Health where she retired from in January 2022 after 42 years. She is married to Dennis Buckles and they have eleven grandchildren whom they enjoy very much. Anne loves to learn and in 2008, she decided to pursue a B.A. in Spanish, which she calls her “retirement plan”. She will graduate May 2022 with a 3.81 GPA and plans on pursuing a TESL/TEFL certificate from UCCS. Her plans are to teach English in Central and South America for a few years. Anne and Dennis enjoy traveling and been to Elbow Cay in the Abacos, as well as Costa Rica and Mexico. They plan on going to Europe for six weeks soon, spending four of those weeks in Spain.

I first began my journey with the German Language in Junior High at Cheyenne Mountain. I started taking German was because my brother promised me we would go to Germany after my 8th grade school year. Naturally, I joined the German class and, to my surprise, my brother and I did end up spending three weeks in Germany after my 8th grade year. Throughout high school I continued my education with the German language and culture. Unfortunately, the first university I attended did not have a German program. After spending a year at Northwest Nazarene University, I decided to transfer to UCCS. Upon transferring, I discovered UCCS has a German program. I met with Frau Brehm before the semester started and she placed me in an intermediate German course. Since then, I have completed a German minor, been a tutor in the UCCS Languages Center for 3 years, became the German Club Vice President, and the German Honor Society Vice President. I plan on using my knowledge of the German language and culture within the medical community. I am honored to be accepting this award and I am thankful to everyone who has helped me get here.

Zhané, or Z, has been a stand-out student of French at UCCS. Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Z attended Pikes Peak Community College, completing two associate degrees, then transferred to UCCS to complete an English degree with an emphasis in secondary education and a minor in French. Throughout her college career, she worked various jobs in support of her coursework and passions as a peer tutor. At UCCS, she has worked as a French and English tutor in the Excel Languages Center. She has also been honored to publish in the student research journal and to incur a learning achievement from the French language department at UCCS. Z has reached an advanced level of proficiency in French and has produced some of the most beautifully crafted essays we have seen in the French program. In 2021, she was inducted into the National French Honor Society. Over the last year, she has been a student teacher and most recently took on a full-time teaching position at her student teaching site. After graduation, she plans to move with her partner to northern Illinois to further her teaching career. The experiences and connections made possible by her time at UCCS will lead her in her future endeavors as both an educator and lifelong learner.