Rocio Curiel’s life has been shaped by language. When she emigrated to the United States from Baja California, Mexico, as a 12-year-old girl who did not speak English, it was a source of anxiety and struggle.
As she adjusted to life and school in America, her parents’ familiar Mixtec dialect kept her connected to her roots; discovering linguistics in college helped her blossom into a serious scholar who will pursue a Ph.D. in the field.
Now, Curiel graduated from UC Santa Barbara — leading the student procession for the Humanities & Fine Arts ceremony on June 15 — as a double major in linguistics and Spanish. She is next headed to UCLA for graduate school…