Siara Soule ’26
Soule was also disturbed to hear about the extent to which America’s immigrant communities are disproportionately affected, particularly the Latino population, because many of them do not have sufficient opportunity to access swim lessons.
So, being a Hispanic studies and education major, Soule dived into the subject and, with the help of an Allen Wells Travel and Research Award, spent the summer of 2025 visiting different US cities talking to Latino immigrant communities
“I collected stories from Latinx people in New York City and Boston, as well as Portland, Maine, and I heard a lot of scary accounts of near drownings.”
Having amassed all these testimonies for her independent study project, Soule decided to highlight the issue by writing it up in a fictional style often used by Latin American writers.
Under the guidance of Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Carolyn Wolfenzen Niego, Soule produced a “cronica” (“chronicle” in English), using a literary approach that adopts a broad range of fictional styles to describe a subject that is based on reality, written in Spanish.
“I don’t write fiction in English, so I was nervous about capturing these voices in a respectful way,” explained Soule, “but Professor Wolfenzon has been incredibly helpful. I have ended up weaving a number of these narratives together.”
This was quite a departure from her original plan, she explained, which was to produce a literature review, exploring the importance of water in certain Indigenous cultures.
