Record number of Springfield high school seniors earn Seal of Biliteracy this year

A total of 79 seniors in Springfield Public Schools — 4% of the Class of 2023 — earned the nationally recognized Missouri Seal of Biliteracy this year.

It is given to students who attain a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing at least one language, in addition to English, by their high school graduation.

The seal was established in 2011 and Missouri adopted it in 2017. Since then, 262 Springfield students have earned the seal. It is now offered in 49 states plus Washington, D.C.

With the number of recipients growing each year, the district held its first Seal of Biliteracy reception Thursday. The organizers plan for it to become an annual celebration.

Kristopher Morehead, a French teacher at Pipkin Middle School, was part of the team that advocated for Missouri to offer the seal.

"They have spent a lot of time in classrooms and outside of classrooms building their linguistic skills," he said at the start of the event at Hill City, a venue on East Trafficway.

"We have more (seniors) receiving the Seal of Biliteracy this evening than we have since we adopted the program in 2018. We are excited about that."

Morehead said while the seal recipient numbers have grown, they still represent a fraction of students. He noted it can take years to gain proficiency in a language.

"Academics is one indicator of success but another indicator of success is grit," he said.

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Superintendent Grenita Lathan was not able to attend the reception but sent a video message. She applauded the bilingual students, noting it can help them thrive in the global economy.

"The world is telling us loud and clear, bilingualism will continue to be a crucial skill set of success," she said.

Until this year, Morehead said the seals were primarily given for proficiency in Spanish and French. This year, the seal was also given in Mandarin, Tagalog and American Sign Language, or ASL.

"That is pretty exciting for us," he said.

Ashlyn Nelson, a senior in Spanish, said she started learning the language freshman year. She said while parts were challenging, she picked it up faster than she expected.

"I knew I wanted to study a foreign language," said Nelson, a Glendale senior. This fall, she will be studying accounting at Drury University.

She said in addition to gaining Spanish language skills, the courses sharpened her overall communication skills and she believes that will help her in college and the workplace.

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The seal can be given to students whose first language is English who become proficient in a second language. It is also available to English learners who develop academic proficiency in their home language while also mastering English.

A Seal of Biliteracy is granted to all students who meet the criteria for the award. For each level, criteria are set for students whose first language is English who are learning a second language and for English learners who are developing academic proficiency in their home language while mastering English.

Carrol Lund, who started a Japanese language program at Kickapoo High School, gave the keynote address at the event.

"Whether you are a native speaker of Mandarin and Tagalog and an English learner or whether you're an English speaker and a learner of Spanish and French, we are celebrating you the same way," she said.

Lund encouraged the graduating seniors to continue acquiring language skills in college. "You will be rewarded. It will be a personal reward and it will be a reward for all those around you."

In Missouri, 964 students earned the seal in 2022.

This year, the seal was given to seniors at four of Springfield's five high schools — 39 at Kickapoo, 17 at Glendale, 16 at Central and seven at Parkview.

• Parkview: Yanet Adan, Melissa Juan Castro, Rebecca Llamas, Said Melo-Mejia, Manuel Salgado-Mendoza, Ella Terrell, and Luz Ubaldo-Frausto;

• Central: David Aleman, Claire Bodnar, Shayla Frost, Isabel Gamble, Jesus Giovanni Garcia, Annie German, Amanda Gott, Spencer Henderson, Ania Kovacs, Megan Liermann, Ian Morgan, Alexandra Ocampo, Zane Prater, Jenna Skidmore, Isaiah Thompson, and Elizabeth Vancerin;

• Glendale: Matilde Anselmi, Lauren Bloxom, Aidan Bryan, Avery Burtin, Collin Cameron, Isabelle Eddy, Evan Elliott, Emma Favoni Miccoli, Maxton Gulje, Allison Johns, Aracely Merlo, Ashlyn Nelson, Mason St. Clair, Brenna Tarter, Cole Vincel, Hannah White, and Ian Williams;

• Kickapoo: Taylor Akers, Colton Allen, Kiara Ausler, Sandra Baadsgaard, Savannah Baker, Taylor Brown, Avery Carnett, Garrett Catlett, Kelsey Catlett, Lauren Copelin, Yike Deng, Cayci Evans, Camila Fuentes, Tom Gao, Antonio Garcia, Caden Haustein, Alexandra Henry, Maya Hernandez, McKenna Hunt, Lucas Jordan, Georgia Journagan, Donna Kearney, Grace Keech, Julia Klein, Olivia Morris, Nat Norman, Jadyn Parsons, Hollie Quackenbush, Ethan Riffle, Valerie Rivera, Claire Roberts, Emily Robertson, Rachel Schmeider, Brooklyn Scott, Isaac Smith, Contessa Trombetta, Masey Washington, Sam Weiner, and Morgan Wheeler.

Nixa High School

Nixa High School announced Monday that 20 seniors there received the Missouri Seal of Biliteracy this year.

All of the students spent at least four years learning a second language: Kendall Ernst, Camila Figueroa, Isabella Hanners, Salvador Herrera, Hailey Jarvis, Spencer Ward, Kylene Minton, Paige Pearcy, Sailor Powley, Seb Sweaney, Lane Loney, Lauren Loney, Kenneth Coor, Abby Martin, Jaeden Smith, Treasure Bougher, Kaleb James, Alexa Gaunt, Harper Jane Simpson and Brianna Gonzalez.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: SPS celebrates record number of seniors earning Seal of Biliteracy