GENTRY, AR -- Three Gentry High School seniors have earned the prestigious Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy, a statewide recognition awarded to students who demonstrate proficiency in English and at least one additional language. This year’s honorees from Gentry are Isaias Chavarria, Ingrid Perez, and Yeila Bravo, all of whom achieved the distinction in Spanish.
They are among 864 Arkansas students from high schools across the state to receive the Seal this award cycle. The recognition celebrates students who have attained functional proficiency in multiple languages by the time they graduate high school.
The Seal of Biliteracy was first adopted by in 2011 and is now recognized in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. According to the national organization, “The Seal of Biliteracy encourages students to pursue biliteracy, honors the skills our students attain, and can be evidence of skills that are attractive to future employers and college admissions offices.”
Arkansas launched its Seal of Biliteracy program in 2017. Since then, 8,110 students from 124 high schools have earned the certification across 46 different languages other than English, including American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, Marshallese, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and Spanish, among many others.
The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in grades 9–12. The program is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association (AFLTA) and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ARKTESOL). The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the Seal in June 2018.