Freshman Carl Mbao, a native of the African nation Zambia, came to the University of Miami after a two-year program at a small college in Spain.

“I wanted to find a place in the United States that was truly diverse and multicultural,” he explains. “I speak Spanish almost every day here, and I really like it.”

The ability to speak Spanish came in handy for Mbao, whom the University selected to be a student commentator at the Republican Presidential Forum on December 9. Held at the University’s BankUnited Center and broadcast by Spanish-language network Univision, the forum was the second-ever nationally televised debate targeting Spanish speakers. The first was the Democratic Presidential Forum on September 9 at the BankUnited Center, also broadcast by Univision.

The experience was fascinating for Mbao, who had never before seen a U.S. presidential debate. “It’s kind of crazy, you know, my getting to participate in something like this,” he says. “But it’s a good thing. The world cares about what’s going on in America.”

Students made the most of the opportunity—1,500 attended each forum, and more than 120 volunteered in the BankUnited Center, greeting the reporters, photographers, and television camera crews who poured into the media filing room.

Univision Network news anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, who moderated the forums, posed questions in Spanish, and the candidates had earpieces to hear English translations. Television audiences heard immediate Spanish translations of the candidates’ responses.

“Even though many Hispanic voters speak English, I’m sure there are a lot of political terms that are difficult for a non-native speaker to understand,” says UM sophomore Miles Strebeck, treasurer of the University’s Young Democrats club. He was manning a voter registration table during the Democratic Presidential Forum watch party in the Rathskeller.

“It’s important for candidates to reach the Hispanic market, and it’s an honor that the University was able to host it,” Strebeck says.