Twenty-Two CHS Seniors Earn Massachusetts DESE State Seal of Biliteracy
in News
Four seniors earn honors in multiple languages
CHELMSFORD, MA (May 23, 2021) – Seniors Maria Eduarda Lima Galdino da Silva, Ananya Sripathi, and Lea Bosch each earned the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Seal of Biliteracy in two languages and led 22 Chelmsford High School seniors to similar honors, the CHS World Languages Department announced last week.
The DESE Seal of Biliteracy is an award granted by state-approved school districts that recognizes high school graduates who attain high-functioning and academic levels of proficiency in English and at least one other world language – through reading, writing, listening and speaking – by graduation. Students who received a score of six in all four categories earned the Seal of Biliteracy.
“I’m proud to see students graduating from our World Language program having earned the Seal of Biliteracy,” said Jessica Nollet, Coordinator of World Languages at CHS. “It’s equally impressive to see how many students speak another language at home and it’s wonderful to be able to recognize them for their proficiency in a second or third language. Being bilingual will always be a marketable skill, no matter what career students decide to go into after high school.”
Ms. da Silva earned the Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish and with Distinction in Portuguese (Brazilian) while Ms. Sripathi earned the Seal in Spanish and Hindi, and Ms. Bosch in French and Spanish.
Ms. da Silva was one of three students to earn the Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction, alongside Waka Umaoka, who earned distinction honors in Japanese; and Sabrina Boutlane who earned the Seal with distinction in Spanish.
Alizée Bosch was among dual recipients as she earned the Seal in Spanish as well as the Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award in French (presented to students who scored at least a five in the four categories of their language of choice).
Other seniors who earned the Seal in Spanish included Ayranis De La Cruz, Chance Drewicz, Leticia Goncalves, Isabella Madrid and Abhiram Nisankararao, along with Analia O’Connor-Carinao, Sara Perkins, Andrew Peterson, and Emilee Sousa.
French Seal recipients included Isabelle Boivin and Hannah Wolman, while Hadassa Schunemann da Cruz Machado earned the Seal in Portuguese and Clara Wong in Mandarin Chinese.
Along with Alizée Bosch, four CHS seniors received the Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award including Narissa AlDayaa (French), Jared Guerin (Spanish) and Gabriela Vasilakis (Spanish).
CHS’s 22 seniors to earn the Seal of Biliteracy is its most in three years. Twenty seniors earned the Seal last year while nine earned the honor in 2021. Chelmsford’s seniors covered six languages: Spanish (16), French (five), Portuguese (Brazilian) (two), Hindi (one), Japanese (one) and Mandarin Chinese (one).
2023 Massachusetts DESE Seal of Biliteracy, Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award Recipients
Student, Language
- Isabelle Boivin, French
- Alizée Bosch, Spanish
- Lea Bosch, Spanish, French
- Sabrina Boutlane, Spanish (w/distinction)
- Ayranis De La Cruz, Spanish
- Chance Drewicz, Spanish
- Maria Eduarda, Lima Galdino da Silva, Spanish, Portuguese (w/ distinction)
- Isabella Madrid, Spanish
- Abhiram Nisankararao, Spanish
- Analia O’Connor-Carinao, Spanish
- Sara Perkins, Spanish
- Andrew Peterson, Spanish
- Hadassa Schunemann Da Cruz Machado, Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Emilee Sousa, Spanish
- Ananya Sripathi, Spanish, Hindi
- Waka Umaoka, Japanese (w/ distinction)
- Hannah Wolman, French
- Clara Wong, Mandarin Chinese
Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award
- Narissa AlDayaa, French
- Alizée Bosch, French
- Jared Guerin, Spanish
- Gabriela Vasilakis, Spanish
About Chelmsford Public Schools
The Chelmsford Public School District provides all students with multiple pathways to optimize their own potential for academic excellence, leadership, and social and emotional wellness. The mission of the Chelmsford Public Schools is to educate, engage, prepare, and empower well-rounded and knowledgeable learners to PERSEVERE through challenges, demonstrate RESPECT and INTEGRITY in their words and actions, are DEDICATED to their community, and display EMPATHY as global citizens while discovering and pursuing their full potential. This PRIDE-driven culture enables all members of the school community to support the growth and development of students. For more information, please visit www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us.