Majoring in Italian gave Alexander Beale ’15 a chance to connect with his mother’s culture.

“I grew up speaking Italian, but never received formal training. I always wanted to master my mother’s native language,” says Beale.

Beale also spent a semester studying in Florence, the city where his parents met. Although he’d been to Italy many times throughout his life, living with a host family was a different level of immersion.

“My mother took me to many of her and my father’s favorite spots when I first arrived,” Beale says. “I learned a ton of words and phrases that I otherwise would not have learned in the classroom.”

Like many modern language majors, Beale had the flexibility to add another major. With hopes to one day run for office, Beale selected political science.

He now is a law clerk at Franklin D. Azar & Associates, P.C., in Colorado. He will begin a full-time position there as a class-action attorney representing plaintiffs in September 2018.

“It’s my steadfast belief that corporations should be held accountable to the consumers of their products or services,” Beale says. “I revel in the opportunity to take on big-name companies and law firms in David and Goliath-esque fashion.”

Although he’s not using his Italian skills at work right now, that could change in an instant.

“There is always the potential for Italian-speaking clients to come through my door,” Beale says.