KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City Public Schools program is rewarding students for being fluent in different languages, while fostering a diverse student body.
In 2018, Missouri’s Seal of Billiteracy program was introduced to KCPS as a way to encourage students to pursue and retain dual language skills.
"It's one of my highlights, I take pride in this and feel loved being in this program,” Northeast High School senior Amisi Mpole said.
Mpole and 64 other students will be graduating this month with their seal of biliteracy. Mpole is fluent in Swahili and was accepted into the program after showing proficiency in English and his native language through a series of tests. If students pass, they are required to meet expectations like translating at school events or taking part in a community service project using both languages.
“They have fun with a program because all these activities and events that we participate, they improve their skills in the language,” said Carmen Truax, librarian and Seal of Biliteracy sponsor at Northeast High School.
Northeast High School has one of the most diverse student bodies at KCPS.
Here’s a breakdown of the non-English languages spoken at Northeast High School:
- Spanish - 36.9%
- Somali - 19.5%
- Burmese - 18.12%
- Swahili - 6.71%
- Karen - 4.03%
- Vietnamese - 3.36%
District-wide 39% of KCPS students speak a language other than English at home, representing 51 different world languages. The top five languages spoke throughout KCPS are Spanish, Swahili, Somali, Burmese and Arabic.
"It's something wonderful, every culture comes together and it's amazing to be here and people explaining stuff to me that I can't understand,” Mpole said.
Upon graduation, students can earn up to 14 college credit hours — but the impact the Seal of Biliteracy program has will last a lifetime.
“It does make me appreciate it because I feel more comfortable that there's more differences within each other,” Northeast senior Talia Simpson said.
