SOUTH DEERFIELD — Five Frontier Regional School seniors will see a seal on their diplomas this year recognizing their fluency in more than one language and, for many, their connection to a culture they grew up in at home.
The five students — Diego Frazier, Genesis Perez Palacios, Leandro Amaya, Adrien Pazmandy and David Tuesca — sat through six to eight hours of tests measuring their aptitude for English and another language to earn the Massachusetts State Seal of Biliteracy. Beyond a gold seal on the students’ transcripts and diplomas, the seal also secures the students 12 college credits at eligible schools.
“Our vision is to help students recognize the value of their academic success and see the tangible benefits of being bilingual,” the state’s description of the seal reads.
For the first time at Frontier, Tuesca earned the Seal of Biliteracy of Distinction and Pazmandy earned the award for Latin.
Four of the seniors received the seal for their excellence in understanding and expressing Spanish after growing up surrounded by the language.
Frazier’s mother immigrated to the United States from Mexico at 25 years old before raising her son, whom she speaks to in Spanish. For Frazier, who responds in English, Spanish classes at Frontier helped him master verb conjugations and fine-tune his fluency.
“I’ve always been curious,” Frazier said, referring to world languages. “When I was younger and didn’t know much, I’d ask [my mom], ‘Are you thinking in English right now or are you thinking in Spanish?'”
Although Frazier said he thinks in English, he often dreams in Spanish during summers in Mexico.
Looking ahead, he hopes to branch out and learn more languages like French and Arabic to “[be] able to connect with people who don’t speak English.”
Perez Palacios studied Spanish to continue practicing her first language while “bouncing back and forth between English and Spanish.”
“I wanted to keep learning,” she explained. “Being a native speaker and coming from that, I just want to keep it in me and not forget it.”
According to Spanish teacher Pamela Sharron, earning the Seal of Biliteracy is no easy feat, even for native or heritage speakers.
“It’s really an amazing achievement,” Sharron said. “You need the hours, the exposure, the immersion.”
Sharron decided to teach Spanish after studying the language in college and graduate school “opened up [her] world.”
“It allows you to relate to people at a much higher level, because when you speak their language, it breaks the barriers. You sit and have a cup of coffee together or you share a meal. … It’s a soft skill as much as a hard skill,” Sharron said. “To speak with someone in their language, it shows that you care.”
For Sharron, the seal celebrates more than a student’s excellence in learning a language.
“It’s not just language, it’s culture,” Sharron said. “It’s bringing cultural awareness to [students’] heritage and their background, and it’s making them empathetic citizens, which is an important skill in today’s world where I think we’re so divided. When you can relate to another person and empathize, it’s a global skill, it’s a 21st-century skill, and I think it should be recognized.”
With tears in her eyes, she said, “That feels really good … to see kids come out of their shells and be proud of themselves and where they come from.
“We should be celebrating these types of stories,” she added.
