For those who know her—or even for those who happen to simply walk by her on their way to class—Julie Beauregard can always be found with a smile on her face and a bag of books hanging off her shoulder, ready to absorb the knowledge that her professors and peers have to impart. When I first met her, she was Julie Beauregard, a fellow studious linguist with a mouth full of braces and a wedding to plan amidst mastering Phonological processes and Syntactic trees. Now, Julie is in her final semester of her undergrad, finishing up her Arts degree as a Linguistics major and Psychology minor, and she’s revving to put the tools she’s learned at SFU to practical use in the real world.
About six months ago, Julie started up a business of her own called Fluency Connect, with a mind to provide monolingual children in the Lower Mainland with the opportunity to become bilingual. The program aims to pair young children with native speakers of different languages in one-on-one everyday interactions in order to develop language skills not native to the children. But simply learning a new language is not all that Julie wants for these children. The psych side of her definitely comes out as she advocates for child development, stating that bilingualism will provide “cognitive benefits” for these infants and toddlers, “long before they begin kindergarten.”
Aside from enduring full course loads and starting a business, Julie’s plate is also filled by the various clubs that she is involved with and the responsibilities that her involvements entail. She is a Co-Treasurer in the Linguistics Student Union at SFU, and is responsible for everything from selling LSU apparel to planning club events. On top of that, as the VP of External Relations for the Golden Key International Honour Society, the world’s largest collegiate honour society, she organizes keynote speakers for events and helps fundraise for SPARK a Change, the Golden Key’s initiative to improve the lives of at-risk youth through education. As part of this society, Julie has even taken a little initiative herself so members can have “access to greater Canadian benefits,” as she puts it.
Despite her busy schedule, Julie still makes time for her passions in life, which include her friends, painting, baking, reading, travelling, and in her words, “watching some top quality television shows.” Another of her passions in life, though, is learning Japanese. Julie’s desire for multilingualism clearly does not end with children. And I believe it to be a testament to her character that she strives to practice what she preaches. A non-native speaker, Julie works hard at becoming fluent in a language that differs vastly in structure and sound from English. And Julie understands the feat it is for her to master Japanese. When asked what she would do differently in life if she could go back in time, she wishes she had reviewed her Japanese more after her classes had finished. Julie is still hopeful for the future though: “In light of the second language acquisition research I have done through Linguistics at SFU, I feel much better equipped to excel in Japanese than ever before.”
Ten years from now, Julie sees herself keeping up with “the latest and greatest Linguistics research” and maintaining her love for wugs. She hopes to have her business spread throughout North America, so she can do her “best to bring innovation to the world” and aspires to complete her Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology at McGill University.
What does Julie have to say about the education she has had thus far at SFU, though?
“Practical applications in life come about…[which] have helped me feel well-rounded in my knowledge-base and [which] I believe will serve me well for years to come.”