Urbana high schoolers earn state recognition for biliteracy skills

Simmy Wood
·2 min read

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — 38 Urbana High School students earned state recognition for accomplishing or making outstanding progress toward high fluency in English and at least one foreign language. They will be recognized at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.

The 2024 Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy is bestowed as part of the State Seal of Biliteracy program. Students take a test that measures their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Their scores then determine whether they meet State Seal qualifications. For those who receive it, the Seal gets placed on their diplomas and transcripts.

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Here is the list of this year’s 23 UHS State Seal of Biliteracy recipients and the languages they attained proficiency in:

  • Arabic

    • Nourseen Ismail

  • German

    • Henry Burrus

    • Abigail Fairbanks

    • Ioelle Lee

    • Gabriel Srajek

  • Spanish

    • Max Kwon-Allred

    • Casandra Alvarado

    • Eduardo Diego Andres

    • Gabriela Bautista

    • Jessica Diaz

    • Mia Fragoso

    • Roselyn Cox-Garcia

    • Anna Ginsburg-Sullivan

    • Joshua Cruz Hernandez

    • Hadasha De Leon Hernandez

    • Pace Dominguez-Hultgren

    • Kwale Johnson

    • Nicholas Lehman

    • Alexa Maldonado

    • Avalon Ogolsky

    • Amrica Rebolledo

    • Achly Ramos Rivera

    • Jesse Wald

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15 other UHS students also earned the Commendation toward Biliteracy in 2024, which acknowledges those who may not fully meet State Seal requirements, but have made definitive progress towards biliteracy that deserves recognition. Here are the recipients and their additional languages:

  • French

    • Nourseen Ismail

  • German

    • Beatrice Ebel

    • Samuel Drasgow

    • Alexander Maslov

  • Mandarin Chinese

    • Hudson Coady

  • Spanish

    • Steven Marcos Diaz

    • Alicia Garcia

    • Eliel Abril Garcia

    • America Gomez

    • Clara Hazen

    • Leslie Hernandez Rivera

    • Phia Marino

    • Sebastian Orrala

    • Lorelie Yau

    • Isauro Zenil

There are also four students whose biliteracy results are pending, and may achieve placement in either group.

Officials with the Urbana School District said developing biliteracy skills can increase employment and academic opportunities and allow for college credit at public universities. The district first joined in the state’s Seal of Biliteracy and Commendation Toward Biliteracy Programs in 2021. Last year, it was one of 114 districts in Illinois to participate in the Seal of Biliteracy Program, and one of only 98 districts to participate in the Commendation Toward Biliteracy Program.

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