“It’s a great honor,” senior Alejandro Greeny says.
“It’s important to be able to communicate with a lot of different people,” senior Melissa Lara say.
“I feel like thanks to this I’m more prepared for life,” senior Victor Salasrios adds.
Alejandro, Melissa, and Victor just wrapped up testing for the state’s Biliteracy Seal program. In order to receive the certificate, they had to prove they could not only speak two languages fluently, but read, write, and comprehend them too.
“There are a lot of bilingual students, there are a lot of bilingual adults, but its the literacy component,” Camille Schuler says, “it’s the ability to be able to read and write in a second language.”
While it wasn’t easy, the trio says it was well worth it. And while they plan to pursue different career paths, they all want to utilize their biliteracy abilities in their respective field.
In addition to the 3 South Medford seniors who are receiving the seal, 10 North Medford students are also receiving the award.
North Medford senior, Jasmine Centeno says, “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to receive the bi-literacy seal, as it helps me in my pursuits for the future.”
Brayan Deleon adds, “To me the biliteracy seal is proof that all the years I spent studying spanish paid off, when I learned I was receiving it my heart rate went up because of how happy I was.”
“When I was younger I never knew how lucky I was to have had Spanish as my first language,” Alicia Aranda says, “I took it for granted sometimes but after actually taking part in multiple spanish classes and realizing how much more difficult it is to learn spanish more in depth other than just being able to speak it, I have gained more knowledge in speaking, reading, and writing in spanish which will help me for future careers.”
“The Biliteracy Seal is a marker for how much my Spanish has improved in a short span of time,” Adrian Chavez adds.
According to the ODE, MSD549C is one of only 10 districts in the state who have students who’ve participated.
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