I’m back after vacationing in northern Wisconsin plus Switzerland, France and Germany; refreshed and ready to get back to this column!
For this week’s interview (with Alayna Brown) I reached all the way to Seville, Spain. (MHS grads have truly become citizens of the world)!
Alayna—daughter of Arby Brown and Steve Brown—began our phone interview with sharing highlights of her years at MHS. Sports played a huge part in her high school life, being active in volleyball, basketball and track. When asked for any specific memories, she recalled that during her senior year she participated in the 110-meter-high hurdles in track making it all the way to the state semi-finals only to lose by a split second (“a heartbreaker”) just missing the opportunity to go on to state!
Music was also a passion during high school. Alayna participated in Concert Choir, Jazz Choir, and Concert Band. In band, Alayna switched from playing the trumpet to the baritone (sax)? (due to getting braces)! She carried her vocal music into college and beyond.
Teachers that stand out in her memory are John Niederhauser (math and track), Dale Dahlke (anatomy and track), and Dr. Warren Puhl whose Chemistry classes were always interesting and creative. Alayna was one of the class Valedictorians in 1997.
Attending UW-Madison, Alayna majored in Psychology with an interest in social behavior and public health. During her junior year, she participated in a summer research internship at the Harvard School of Public Health.
In her senior year, Alayna decided to extend a semester and travel to Seville, Spain to study Spanish culture and history. Alayna said, “I fell in love with the city.”
To improve her Spanish speaking skills, she signed up for a Spanish language exchange partner with the goal to help each other become more fluent in the language of their heritage. In her case, as second languages improved, the relationship with her language partner also grew.
Alayna decided to extend her stay to the spring semester even though she had spent almost all of her study-abroad savings. Extra cash was obtained by teaching English to children in the neighborhood! She knew that a return to the U.S. was imminent. Alayna and Antonio (her language partner) decided to pursue a long-distance relationship, knowing it would be challenging.
Back in the U.S. in 2002, Alayna lived in Minneapolis and began working at Reuben Lindh Family Services (currently Family Partnership) as a Family Services Manager working primarily with Spanish-speaking families.
The long-distance relationship ended up working out. After three long years including many letters, high phone bills (there was no internet at this time) and several international flights, Alayna and Antonio made the decision to get married. Alayna also made the difficult decision to (temporarily) forego pursuing a post-graduate degree and instead move permanently to Seville, Spain to begin a new life.
The couple married in Antonio’s hometown of Badajoz. One month later, they returned to Menomonie to restate their vows at the Menomonie Alliance Church. Both ceremonies were family affairs with several of Alayna’s relatives attending the wedding in Spain and Antonio’s parents and family traveling to Menomonie for the second ceremony.
Back in Seville, Alayna received her ESL certification and taught Business English classes for a few months. It was then that she reconnected with the study abroad organization CIEE, the very same program she had enrolled in upon arrival in Spain. In face the program director had been her mentor during her study abroad term and was able ti help find a position for her.
Alayna has now been working for CIEE for more than twenty years as a Senior Program Manager in charge of organizing on-site needs of students. She currently works with American high school students who come to Seville to attend school. In this role, she helps find host families, get students registered in local high schools, organizes cultural activities, and manages health and safety needs. In other words, according to Alayna, she is their “on-site mom”. She loves watching their minds open to seeing the world differently.
Alayna received a master´s degree in Intercultural Education through Spain´s distance education university and has taught Intercultural Communication for over 10 years to American undergraduates at the University Pablo de Olavide in Seville.
Alayna’s current hobbies include participating in choirs which support symphony concerts in the Seville area. She also loves volleyball, running, hiking (an interest she got from her dad), and anything else that involves the outdoors. In addition, Alayna loves cooking Spanish recipes. “This has become gastronomically enriching for me and my family.” She especially enjoys preparing traditional Spanish recipes when she comes back to Menomonie for family visits.
Alayna and husband Antonio have three children—two teenage daughters (14 and 18 years old) and an eleven-year-old son. Because of Alayna’s positive study abroad experiences, her oldest daughter spent her junior year of high school at Menomonie High School. And currently, her second daughter is a freshman at MHS, involved in volleyball, orchestra, and extracurricular clubs. Alayna’s son eagerly looks forward to his turn to attend MHS in the future!
The entire family loves traveling to northern Spain. As Alayna notes, “It’s the dairy region of the country” and reminds her of Wisconsin. Family trips have included Paris, Rome and Portugal, which is only two hours away. And, of course, visiting Wisconsin every couple of years is an extremely popular adventure with the entire family.
When asked what she loved about growing up in Menomonie, Alayna recalled the Ludington Guard Band concerts with the “childrens’ march” as one of the highlights she will always remember. Other memories include the public library where she used to sit peacefully reading a book while viewing Lake Menomin, biking the Red Cedar Trail, skiing at Hoffman Hills and more.
She commented on the size and familiarity of Menomonie—knowing where everything was, having longtime neighbors that were friends, established neighborhoods, a feeling of family (running into people you knew) and the element of safety as she was growing up.
One thing she´s noticed on her visits back to Menomonie is her feeling of sadness that the downtown area has become somewhat abandoned. The vibrancy of Main Street and Broadway that were the hub of the city when Alayna was growing up seems to have lessened. Nonetheless, Alayna still has strong ties to her hometown.
It was a pleasure getting to know Alayna. She makes Menomonie and MHS proud.
Judy Foust is a retired longtime 7th Grade Reading Specialist at Menomonie Middle School. To submit info to her or to request an interview she may be contacted at [email protected]
