Mark Petrarca

November 30, 2022

%C2%A1Hola%21+Guten+Tag%21+Bonjour%21+The+World+Languages+department+poses+for+a+photo.+From+left+to+right%3A+Dane+Leone%2C+Sandra+Mitchell%2C+Mark+Petrarca%2C+Veronica+Skomra%2C+Patricia+Leonard+and+Jessica+Patton.

Melissa Krainer

¡Hola! Guten Tag! Bonjour! The World Languages department poses for a photo. From left to right: Dane Leone, Sandra Mitchell, Mark Petrarca, Veronica Skomra, Patricia Leonard and Jessica Patton.

Petrarca started teaching Spanish 32 years ago. Eight years afterward, he added German to his repertoire. 

Petrarca graduated from three different universities: Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). He attended Penn State on an Army ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) scholarship and received a degree in Spanish and linguistics. During his time spent there, Petrarca competed against other students with similar majors and received recognition for excellence in Spanish.

“I actually won an award at Penn State for Foreign Language–it was the John White Award for Excellence in Spanish–my junior year. It was an exam. I competed against 30 Spanish majors, some of whom were seniors,” Petrarca said. “I wanted to take that money and study in Salamanca, Spain, because [the Spanish classes] wanted to go on an exchange to Salamanca, Spain, but I couldn’t because I had to go to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for my military training between my junior and senior year.”

Petrarca joined the army after graduation and ended up being stationed in Germany. His language degree allowed him to work as a translator and analyst.

“When I joined the army, I ended up being stationed in Germany eventually. I did live three years in Germany and at the station, I picked up a little bit of German. The army took advantage of my language degree, and I was stationed at the National Security Agency. I worked as an intelligence analyst and translator and then I went to Germany,” Petrarca said.

After his service in the army, he attended the University of Pittsburgh and later IUP for his doctorate.

I just followed my heart, and I majored in Spanish and linguistics.

— Mark Petrarca

“After I got out of the army, I went back to Pitt to get my teaching certification. I earned an MAT which is a Masters of Arts in the Teaching of Foreign Language. I earned that from Pitt in 1991 and since I’ve been at the high school, starting in 1992, through 2002, I earned my doctorate in applied linguistics and rhetoric from IUP. I did that while I was teaching full time. That’s why it took 10 years,” Petrarca said. 

Petrarca formally studied four languages besides English in college: Russian, Polish, Italian and Spanish. His Italian and Polish heritage inspired him to go into the languages field.

“I suppose it goes back to my grandparents. All four of my grandparents were European immigrants. My mother’s parents were Polish. My father’s parents were from Italy. So, I heard foreign languages a lot. When I went to church, I mean as a kid-I belong to a Polish parish, where they were still using the Latin and Polish for the homily (that changed in 1965 and they went to the monarchy)-there were a lot of people in the churches that were immigrant generation, so I heard [foreign languages] a lot. Obviously, it was kind of cool,” Petrarca said.

Petrarca’s Spanish teacher in high school and his enjoyment of the language inspired him to choose a Spanish major.

“When I was in high school, I wanted to study German, but they didn’t offer it. I chose Spanish because it was the closest thing to Italian, which is my heritage. I just liked the subject, and I had a good teacher. His name was Mr. Seymour, Bishop Carroll. I just enjoyed the subject. When I got my ROTC scholarship-they don’t care what you studied, [just] get a degree-and I didn’t know what to major in. I just followed my heart, and I majored in Spanish and linguistics,” Petrarca said.

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