{"id":41458,"date":"2026-02-19T19:14:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/?p=41458"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T23:37:09","slug":"this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last summer, seven<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">students from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ce.mdc.edu\/esol\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">English for Speakers of Other Languages program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> met weekly after class at The Empanada\u2019s cafe near Wolfson Campus to practice their conversation skills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, what began as casual chats has transformed into the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mdcsmalltalk.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Small Talk Conversation Club<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel very grateful to have this opportunity to provide support to my other colleagues who, like me, are English students\u2026\u201d said Vice President Mariel Mirena. \u201cThis greatly improves our confidence when interacting on a day-to-day basis; that is what we need.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Founded by David Park, a student in the English for Academic Purposes program who hails from Korea, the organization now has 54 registered members.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s diverse\u2014featuring students from Colombia, China, Italy and Russia, ranging in ages from 20s to 60s, with professional backgrounds that include law, education, medicine and fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meetings begin with students asking and answering questions in English. Then, participants are given worksheets that guide them on the day\u2019s activity and the grammar rules they should follow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel a sense of accomplishment when someone who was really unconfident when they first came to the meeting suddenly gains confidence,\u201d Park said. \u201cIt is also clear that I am learning a lot through this myself, so these things seem to be the driving force that allows me to continue this group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The club meets often\u2014Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m. are reserved for students in the EAP and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ce.mdc.edu\/contentManagement.do?method=load&amp;code=CM000050\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intensive English<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Mondays and Wednesdays, students who are part of ESOL and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdc.edu\/revest\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Refugee Entrant Vocational Education Services Training Program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> meet at noon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Saturdays at 12:30 p.m., family members and native speakers are invited to join intermediate learners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All meetings are held in the World Languages lounge on the sixth floor of the 1000 building.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;On the first day, everyone arrives with the fear of expressing themselves in English,\u201d Mirena said. \u201cAs the sessions go by, they develop their skills acquired in the classrooms and lose the fear of having a conversation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When he first entered Miami Dade College, Park noticed his peers in the ESOL program were not getting personalized attention because of the large class sizes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, the 55-year-old connected students from all ESOL levels to converse with each other. At first, people could join through invite only.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the early days, I tried to keep the group size minimal,\u201d Park said. \u201cAs the number of participants increases, the opportunity for each person to speak decreases, which weakens the original intent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But after realizing how many students were interested, he opened the doors to people from different English-learning programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt&#8217;s very important for students to be able to practice English in a non-threatening environment,\u201d said Maureen McCarthy, an associate professor in EAP who serves as one of the club\u2019s advisers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The group aspires to bring the club to other MDC campuses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI hope that the conversation club continues to expand and provide an inclusive environment for any student who is facing challenges with communicating in English,\u201d said Lucas Katz, ESOL program manager who co-advises the club with McCarthy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>Click<\/i><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.us19.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4fc6146412415baee32007fd7&amp;id=b5cd3712dc\"><i> here<\/i><\/a><\/span><i> to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, The Hammerhead. For news tips, contact us at mdc.thereporter@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_41432\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41432\" style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-41432 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-15-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41432\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Talk About It: Two students from the Small Talk Conversation Club at Wolfson Campus review a worksheet to guide them on the day\u2019s lesson at a recent meeting. LUCAS DUARTE\/THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last summer, seven students from the English for Speakers of Other Languages program met weekly after class at The Empanada\u2019s cafe near Wolfson Campus to practice their conversation skills.\u00a0\u00a0 Today, what began as casual chats has transformed into the Small Talk Conversation Club. \u201cI feel very grateful to have this opportunity to provide support to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13482676,"featured_media":41433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2753],"tags":[1445,3847,3848],"class_list":{"0":"post-41458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-wolfson-campus","9":"tag-club","10":"tag-esol","11":"tag-eap"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Vergara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole Vergara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicole Vergara\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2b77a465f479795d2678df2a5040bbc\"},\"headline\":\"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":582,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"club\",\"ESOL\",\"EAP\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Wolfson Campus\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/\",\"name\":\"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Talk Time: Pictured is David Park, founder and president of the Small Talk Conversation Club at Wolfson Campus. The organization was founded to help English-learners practice their conversational skills. LUCAS DUARTE\\\/THE REPORTER\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MDC The Reporter\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/R_reporter_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/R_reporter_logo.png\",\"width\":315,\"height\":309,\"caption\":\"MDC The Reporter\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2b77a465f479795d2678df2a5040bbc\",\"name\":\"Nicole Vergara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Nicole Vergara\"},\"description\":\"Nicole Vergara, 18, is a mass communications\\\/ journalism major in The Honors College at Wolfson Campus. Vergara, who graduated from Maritime and Science Technology Academy in 2025, will serve as a news writer for The Reporter during the 2025-2026 school year. She aspires to work in the public relations department of a large company while being a freelance journalist.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/author\\\/nicole-vergara\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus","description":"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus","og_description":"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.","og_url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/","og_site_name":"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College","article_published_time":"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicole Vergara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole Vergara","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicole Vergara","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2b77a465f479795d2678df2a5040bbc"},"headline":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus","datePublished":"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/"},"wordCount":582,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg","keywords":["club","ESOL","EAP"],"articleSection":["News","Wolfson Campus"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/","name":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-20T00:14:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-25T23:37:09+00:00","description":"The Small Talk Conversation Club meets five times a week at the World Languages lounge at Wolfson Campus to help English-learners practice their conversation skills.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-1-6.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Talk Time: Pictured is David Park, founder and president of the Small Talk Conversation Club at Wolfson Campus. The organization was founded to help English-learners practice their conversational skills. LUCAS DUARTE\/THE REPORTER"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/this-club-is-making-small-talk-popular-at-wolfson-campus\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Club Is Making Small Talk Popular At Wolfson Campus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/","name":"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization","name":"MDC The Reporter","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/R_reporter_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/R_reporter_logo.png","width":315,"height":309,"caption":"MDC The Reporter"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2b77a465f479795d2678df2a5040bbc","name":"Nicole Vergara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Nicole-Vergara-125x125.jpg","caption":"Nicole Vergara"},"description":"Nicole Vergara, 18, is a mass communications\/ journalism major in The Honors College at Wolfson Campus. Vergara, who graduated from Maritime and Science Technology Academy in 2025, will serve as a news writer for The Reporter during the 2025-2026 school year. She aspires to work in the public relations department of a large company while being a freelance journalist.","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/author\/nicole-vergara\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Talk Time: Pictured is David Park, founder and president of the Small Talk Conversation Club at Wolfson Campus. The organization was founded to help English-learners practice their conversational skills.  LUCAS DUARTE\/THE REPORTER\r\n\r\n","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13482676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41458"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41470,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41458\/revisions\/41470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}