Seal of Biliteracy awarded to 18 Oceanside High School graduates

Eighteen members of Oceanside High School’s class of 2019 received New York state’s Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas last week. They are the first group of students in the school’s history to receive this distinction.

“We’re extremely proud of their accomplishments,” said Dr. David Rose, director of the district’s World Languages and English as New Language department. “We think this seal with serve them well in the future.”

New York State signed the Seal of Biliteracy program into law in 2012, and this is the first year that the Oceanside School District offered it. Students had to qualify to participate by receiving a 4.0 or higher on an AP World Language exam — in this case Spanish — by their senior year and earning an 85 percent or higher on the English Language Arts Regents exam.

Once accepted last September, the students entered a yearlong process to earn the seal by the time they graduated high school. Each candidate worked with a faculty mentor, sat in on Google sessions and prepared a project to demonstrate their skills. At the end, they gave an oral presentation in Spanish and written assignment about a culturally relevant topic in both languages.

Among the students who received the Seal of Biliteracy, there was a mix of native Spanish and English speakers, as well as students who speak multiple languages.

Paula Naranjo, 17, moved to Oceanside from Ecuador in 2016 and graduated with the seal last week. “It was hard to get used to the country, culture and language,” she said. “Being recognized that we speak two languages, this huge challenge we faced and overcame, feels really good. We’re all proud of what we’ve done.”

By earning the seal, students now have “a high level of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing in one or more languages in addition to English,” according to the State Education Department, which acknowledges the importance of “being bilingual in today’s global society.”

Rose emphasized that the seal will serve the students as they move forward through college and future careers.

“[This recognition] places a high value on individuals who are able to communicate in more than one language,” he said. “This is an important skill not only at the school level but in the job market.”