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Ripon Unified honors bilingual students
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From left, Ripon Highs Yvonne Serrano, Yvette Serrano and Guadalupe Damian were among those receiving the California State Seal of Biliteracy at Mondays Ripon Unified school board meeting. India Chakraverty also earned the state seal but was not in attendance. - photo by VINCE REMBULAT

Being fluent in two languages has its advantages.

At Ripon Unified, four Ripon High students earned the newly implemented California State Seal of Biliteracy.

Recognized at last Monday’s school board meeting were India Chakraverty, Guadalupe Damian, Yvette Serrano and Yvonne Serrano.

“These are students who speak and are proficient in two languages or more,” Superintendent Louise Johnson said.

Established at the start of the year – the RUSD board adopted the State Seal of Biliteracy program along with Pathways to Biliteracy award for young students last October – the seal provides recognition for those who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, or writing in one or more languages in addition to English.

All told, 17 students from RUSD were honored for their efforts at the San Joaquin County Office of Education function held on April 19.

Included were those achieving the Pathway to Biliteracy award – Asucena Banuelos, Akashdeep Bathh, Liliana Cerna, Edith Ramos, Isaias Rodriguez, Juan Ruiz, Marco Tejeda and Het Trivedi from Ripon Elementary; Andrea Anya, Erick Gonzalez, Aneica Martinez, Luis Fernando Munoz and Brianna Ramirez from Weston School.

According to SJCOE, the Biliteracy Awards come as a commitment to “all students that they graduate prepared and equipped with knowledge and skills to participate successfully in college, career and in global, diverse, multilingual 21st Century society."