Forty members of Huntington High School’s Class of 2022 qualified for the New York State Seal of Biliteracy after displaying exceptional proficiency in at least one second language, including Spanish, French, Latin or Italian.
The group includes Cristian Avelar-Romero, Cindy Barahona-Alvarado, Cassidy Casabona, Jazlyn Chapas-Oliva, Lucas Cirlincione, Grace Colavecchio, Morgan Colleluori, Olivia Conte, Kianna Criscuola, Omar Cruz, Jr, Finley Dunn, Elizabeth Elle, Jennifer Escobar, Maria Flores, Erik Flores Reyes, Emily Geller, Ashley Genao, Alexis Kaloudis, Jasjeet Kaur, Lauren Landolfi, Sophie Laserson, Liam Lennon, Michelle Lopez, Christopher Maichin, Sophia Matheus, Allison Neber, Caroline O’Rourke, Tallulah Pitti, Emily Plachta, Keylin Quintanilla Villalobos, Luke Rinaldi, Yanira Rivera Ronquillo, Emily Roberts, Mary Grace Rorke, Abigail Simon, Charlotte Simon, Robert Smith, Nathali Ulloa, Kelly Yanes and Erin Ye.
The students’ diplomas were adorned with an official New York State Education Department seal and they were all awarded a medallion for their proficiency in a second language.
The applicants included both native speakers and dual language students. Guidance counselor Ivy Alvayero monitored the student’s record to make sure they met the requirements for the seal.
Mr. Flores and Ms. Yet demonstrated mastery and cultural proficiency in both Latin and Spanish, effectively qualifying them as being trilingual.
Teachers Gina-Marie Molvout (French), Kristin Fortunato (Latin), Natalia Kopshti (Italian) and Lorena Hickey (Spanish) worked with the bilingual candidates during the process.
“Department members helped us comply with the requirement that teachers must be present at the time of the student presentations,” Mrs. Hickey said. “Each seal advisor worked closely with the students throughout the school year to prepare them for their final digital portfolio presentation.”
Students were required to do an oral presentation of their digital portfolio to a committee of two or more teachers and a representative from their respective honor society.
To qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy students must demonstrate a mastery in the language and discuss their growth in the language over the course of their entire academic experience.
“These applicants presented different artifacts from their portfolios to show proficiency in their language skills, including speaking, listening, reading and writing,” Mrs. Hickey said. “After the 10-15 minute oral presentation was completed, the committee members asked a variety of questions that also helped to dictate whether or not the applicant qualified for the seal. As educators, we were aware of the difficulties that non-native speakers experienced during the pandemic. Practicing their language skills was not an easy task. Nevertheless, we were excited to see that this year’s candidates challenged themselves in order to receive their Seal of Biliteracy.”
Most of the Spanish seal candidates shared with the committee that they will use their Spanish language knowledge to continue to help members in their communities “and we could not be more proud of these 2022 Huntington Blue Devil graduates,” Mrs. Hickey said. Similar scenes played out for those studying French, Italian and Latin.
“We are extremely proud of these students as they have demonstrated exemplary proficiency in a world language as well as a genuine interest in the culture,” Director of Guidance Jeannette Alomia said. “We are confident the skills and knowledge these students attained from this experience will continue to grow during their college years and beyond!.”