UF student Grey Torrico and her younger sister, Rommy, were not teachers before February.
But for some of their students, about 30 Spanish-speaking immigrants and migrant workers living in Gainesville, attending the class the sisters now teach is a matter of survival.
During the spring semester, the Torrico sisters volunteered to teach a free, 10-week English as a Second Language course, which was started by the Latina Women's League in Gainesville in 2006.
"Nobody taught me how to do anything," said Grey Torrico, a UF Spanish and political science senior. "I just kind of went with my instincts."
Torrico, who moved from Chile to the U.S. at age 7, grew attached to her hodgepodge class of students, who were aged 20 to 70 with various English skill levels.
There was no funding for books, so Torrico spent about seven hours each week creating her own material.
She used the 250 pages of printing UF allots students to make worksheets and handouts. When she ran out, she used her sister's.
Although the Saturday morning class ended in April, the Torrico sisters remain committed.
In May, they co-founded the Coalition of Hispanics Integrating Spanish Speakers through Advocacy and Service, or CHISPAS, a student organization that will expand the English course, start new projects and strive to educate the community about immigration issues.
Torrico, who grew up surrounded by friends' cultural struggles, hopes CHISPAS can raise awareness about Hispanic issues in the U.S.
Although she and her family had the proper immigration papers, she's seen the damages of unemployment, the desperation of people who marry to become U.S. residents and the frustrations with the legal system.
"It's something that I've seen personally," she said. "I've always wanted to do something; I just didn't know how to do it."
With CHISPAS, Torrico plans to take action by signing petitions advocating pending legislation and bringing in speakers to educate the public.
"We're trying to attack the problem of ignorance," she said.
Tonight, the Torrico sisters and others will raise funds for the organization at Skate Station Funworks, which will donate 5 percent of profits between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The organization is not funded by Student Government, and money from fundraising will be used for class materials, speakers and other CHISPAS initiatives.
This year, teaching will be different.
The organization, with a 14-person executive board, already has about 25 volunteers signed up to teach English courses at St. Augustine Church two days a week this fall. The church provides the space for free.
Like the Torrico sisters, volunteers do not need teaching experience. A professor from the UF College of Education will train them. Spanish speakers are preferred, although knowing Spanish is not a requirement to volunteer.
"You don't have to know how to teach," Torrico said. "You just have to care."
Classes will be split based on the language level of students. While some volunteers will continue to teach basic English skills, others will work with students on perfecting the language.
Rommy Torrico, a UF sophomore and co-founder of CHISPAS, said the needs of the immigrant community in Gainesville have long been overlooked.
Torrico, who was 5 when her family moved to the U.S., remembers the difficulties of communicating in a new country.
"Learning English is really hard," she said.
Hard, but not impossible. The students in the Torrico sisters' class proved that.
At the end of the semester, they held a mini-graduation ceremony to celebrate the higher level of English many students had achieved.
For Grey Torrico, the moment was overwhelming. She didn't expect to cry, but a thank-you speech from her students caused the tears to flow.
Partly, they were tears of accomplishment. Perhaps too, they mourned the end of classes.
"When I went, I was looking forward to Saturdays," she said. "The time I put into it I got back tenfold."
