My name is Lizzie Alba, and I describe myself as an emotionally empathetic, open-minded, and culturally sensitive Global Scholar. To me, being a Global Scholar means more than studying abroad—it means stepping into the world with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to learn from people whose experiences may be different from my own. It is about understanding that knowledge is not only found in textbooks, but also in communities, families, and everyday interactions.
This summer of 2026, I will be interning abroad in Madrid, Spain, where I will be working with a nonprofit organization that supports low-income families and children. Through this experience, I am especially looking forward to observing how professionals interact with families, how they communicate during moments of conflict, and how they encourage healthy child development in challenging environments. At the same time, I know I will be stepping outside of my comfort zone, adapting to a new culture, dialect, and professional setting, which is both exciting and a little intimidating.
My Community-Based Inquiry (CBI) focuses on an important question: How does co-parenting after divorce affect a child’s development? I chose this topic because, growing up between my native Spanish-speaking country and the United States, I met children who entrusted me with their stories of emotional abandonment, lack of basic needs, and violence. Through them, I learned how deeply nurture and family environments shape a child’s identity, emotional health, and later social development.
In today’s world, co-parenting is becoming more widely encouraged, especially within court systems, and in countries like Spain, it is already a common practice. Madrid, as a central and diverse city, provides an ideal setting to observe these dynamics in real-life contexts and better understand how co-parenting functions across different families and cultural backgrounds.
To carry out my inquiry, I plan to use a combination of observations, interviews with professionals, and possible survey responses from individuals working with families. My goal is to identify patterns in healthy co-parenting practices that may help reduce the emotional impact of divorce on children. Ultimately, I hope my research contributes to a better understanding of how family structures can support a child’s emotional well-being and long-term development.
In my host community, I plan to fully engage by supporting the nonprofit staff in their daily work with families and children. I want to not only assist, but also learn from their approaches—observing how they build trust, provide guidance, and respond to the needs of the community. In return, I hope to share aspects of my academic learning in family science, as well as promote awareness among parents about their crucial role in shaping their child’s development and future social relationships.
Meaningful cultural exchange, to me, means mutual respect and shared growth. I plan to share my values of empathy, communication, and education, while also learning from the cultural perspectives and lived experiences of the families I meet in Madrid.
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