57 Chatham High School Students Earn 'New Jersey Seal Of Biliteracy'

CHATHAM, NJ — A total of 57 seniors at Chatham High School recently earned a New Jersey Seal of Biliteracy.

The Seal of Biliteracy honors high school seniors who can demonstrate a high level of proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English. According to a district news release, students took and passed exams in Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese and German.

The Seal includes a certificate prepared by the NJ Department of Education, as well as a statement on the CHS transcript indicating that the Seal will be awarded in a specific language. This Seal demonstrates linguistic abilities that are appealing to prospective employers and college admissions officers.

All recipients of the Seal must have demonstrated Intermediate-Mid or higher proficiency in at least one language other than English and have completed their English Language Arts graduation requirement, according to NJDOE guidelines.

Six Chatham High School students will receive the New Jersey Seal of Biliteracy in more than one language.

Those students are:

• Pedro Cattaruzzi (Spanish and Portuguese)
• Ausonie Guillot (German and French)
• Alice Marion (Spanish and French)
• Josefina Monge (Spanish and French)
• Gabriel Toledo (Spanish and Portuguese)
• Gisele Urashima (Spanish and Portuguese)

“Our students' success in meeting the requirements for the NJ Seal of Biliteracy is an indication of their commitment to language learning and their understanding of its impact on a global society,” CHS Principal Darren Groh said.

The recipients include:

• Lola Alvarado, Spanish
• Jonah Blanchard, Spanish
• Madeline Boland, Spanish
• Erin Brown, Spanish
• Pedro Cattaruzzi, Spanish and Portuguese
• Kelsey Chase, Spanish
• Stephanie Chen, AP- Chinese
• Ava Chrusciel, Spanish
• Sofia Coutras, Spanish
• Calder Dempsey, Spanish
• Meryn Dziemian, Spanish
• Anabella Falkenberg, French
• Xinyue Fan, Chinese Simplified
• Sara Fidler, German
• John Foley, Spanish
• Lucia Gaffney, Spanish
• Samantha Greenwood, Spanish
• Ausonie Guillot, French and German
• Cate Hackett, German
• Julia Hearne, Spanish
• Eloise Hilgendorff, Spanish
• Kyle Hollerith, German
• Sean Ladewig, AP- German
• Isabella Loconte, French
• Rebecca Macgill, Spanish
• Thomas Mackessy, German
• Julian Maiolo, Spanish
• Alice Marion, Spanish and French
• Braden Mellina, Chinese Simplified
• Josefina Monge, French and Spanish
• Katherine O´Neill, Spanish
• Saurav Patel, French
• Mayuri Purani, Spanish
• Kate Ryan, Spanish
• Natasha Sabih, AP- French
• Meghan Sabin, Spanish
• Suzanna Semerjian, AP- Spanish
• Samantha Serban, Spanish
• Arni Seth, French
• Hannah Sherman, Spanish
• Claire Siebert, Spanish
• Cameron Sims, Spanish
• Lina Sriji, Spanish
• Kaye Stevenson, German
• Risha Surana, Spanish
• Jack Tapper, French
• Ella Tedesco, French
• Gabriel Toledo, Spanish and Portuguese
• Gisele Urashima, Portuguese
• Pranav Venugopal, French
• Sophia Walmsley, Spanish
• Maxwell Williams, Spanish
• Amelia Willmann, German
• Lara Yacykewych, AP- Spanish
• Kevin Yang, Chinese Simplified
• Cynthia Zhang, Chinese Simplified
• Marianna Zingone, French

Currently, 44 states and Washington, D.C. have approved statewide Seal of Biliteracy programs. New Jersey adopted guidelines for its Seal of Biliteracy initiative on Jan. 1, 2016.