The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s Multilingual and Migrant Education Program will celebrate its second annual district-wide Reclassification Celebration recognizing 322 English learner students who have attained proficiency in English.
The celebration will include performances from Righetti and Santa Maria High School Ballet Folklorico Groups and a special keynote address by author, Reyna Grande. Her award-winning memoir, A Distance Between Us, provides a personal testimonial as an undocumented immigrant who went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college.
Students who speak another language at home besides English are given an English Language Development test once a year. They are expected to progress one level each year until they reach the Advanced level. This year, we celebrate the accomplishments and hard work of English learners by presenting them with certificates.
The celebration will be held on Tuesday, March 22nd at 6:00PM at the Santa Maria Fairgrounds’ Convention Center located at 937 South Thornburg Street. All reclassified students and their families are invited to participate.
SMJUHSD Director of Multilingual and Migrant Education Programs Maria Larios-Horton: “Our district is so incredibly proud of our students who have attained proficiency in English and who now join a small percentage of our population who call themselves multilingual; a skill that has both cognitive and social benefits in an increasingly global society. This celebration honors them and the educators and families that helped them get to this point.”