Wilmington High School Students Travel To Peru

WILMINGTON, MA — Wilmington High School students traveled to Peru over February vacation, touring the cities of Lima and Cuzco as well as the world wonder Machu Picchu, an Incan emperor’s residence located in the Andes Mountains.

Spanish teacher Meghan Burns and Chemistry teacher & Science CTL Julie Kim as well as 14 of their students spent nine days touring Peru and experiencing its vibrant culture. In Lima, they swam in the Pacific Ocean, climbed to the top of a restored pre-Columbian pyramid, toured a convent with catacombs beneath it, and visited the Cathedral of Lima, which contains the remains of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. In Cuzco, located at 11,000 feet above sea level, the students fed llamas and alpacas at a wildlife sanctuary and went whitewater rafting on the Urubamba River.

“The Peru trip opened my eyes to new experiences. I was able to use Spanish in and out of the classroom setting, and most of all was exposed to South American culture,” said WHS Senior Adam Yalcin. “Although I had previously been out of the country, I had never been to South America before. We had fun at the handicrafts market, using Spanish to bargain with vendors, and speaking with the workers at the Alpaca farm, feeding the alpacas. The pinnacle of the trip, Machu Picchu, was a blast, with all of us getting to experience the Incan ruins up close. The Peru trip was a life changing experience that I will remember forever.”

World Languages Department
World Language Awards Celebration

The Wilmington World Languages Department celebrated our second annual World Languages Awards Celebration on May 20, 2024. Students, families, teachers, administrators and school committee were all there to proudly recognize the exceptional efforts and achievements of our world language students.

Photo credit: Ryan Gendron

The event took place during the morning, with students and families able to attend to join together in the celebration and was open to other students at the high school to attend as well during their interdisciplinary block.

After the introductions, the celebration began with a special message from the Wilmington Middle School World Languages team and a reminder to seniors to explore study abroad programs. After that there was a slideshow of numerous cultural experiences planned by and run by the teachers this year, including field trips to local restaurants, Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Latin Dance and Flamenco lessons, February break trip to Peru and legendary Machu Picchu, and our first ever Spanish Exchange Program where our families welcomed students from Almeria, Spain into their homes and then went to Almeria in April! And in between all those… dozens of opportunities to show students culture first hand via virtual visitors, conversation groups, and much more. The students then heard from our special Keynote Speaker, Mr. Tim Eagan, the Director of World Languages at Wellesley Public Schools, who reminded them all of the extensive benefits of being multilingual and congratulated them all on their impressive achievements.

We were very proud to recognize two groups of students at different points in their journey. Our graduating senior class of 2024 was recognized for earning the prestigious Biliteracy Awards! In our second group we get to recognize some of those same seniors as well as the underclassmen who earned high marks and recognition on the National Italian Exam, Le Grand Concours (National French Exam), and the National Spanish Exam! These exams were administered nationally and internationally and recognize outstanding achievement in students’ abilities to understand and use their second language skills!

Biliteracy Awards

This is the sixth year awarding the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary State Seal of Biliteracy, the State Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction, and the Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award! The Seal of Biliteracy is part of a National Movement now across all 50 states that recognizes the exceptional ability of students to be a part of a language and culture beyond English. Wilmington is so proud to have been one of the first 6 districts in the state to pilot the Seal of Biliteracy, and our work was instrumental in passing the LOOK Bill in 2017 which brought the Seal of Biliteracy into existence in the state!
We were very proud to present this senior class with 32 total Biliteracy Awards this year, including 17 Seal of Biliteracy Awards and add them to our impressive history of world languages here!

The Biliteracy Attainment Awards

The Language Opportunity Coalition, the group responsible for the LOOK Bill of 2017, the law that went into effect and officially created the Seal of Biliteracy in Massachusetts, started a new award this year, the Biliteracy Attainment Award for students who have attained a proficiency level no lower than Intermediate-Low in any language domain. Several of our students had impressive composite scores, but unfortunately scored lower than the Seal threshold in one area of language.

Shaylan Bresnahan - Italian
Adam Davis - Spanish
Abigail Hassell - Spanish
Annabelle Lozzi - Italian
Michael McCarthy - Italian
Adrienne Moore - French
Maya Mulas - Spanish
Bonhong Sreng - Spanish

The Biliteracy Achievement Awards

The LOC Biliteracy Achievement Award is for students who have attained a proficiency level no lower than Intermediate-Mid in any language domain (Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Listening) in another language.

Avery Allen - Spanish

Thomas Burns - Spanish
Alicia Gardner - Spanish
Clyde Lambert - Spanish
Abigail Nolan - Spanish
Avis Samaha - Spanish
Olivia Solari - Italian

The State Seal of Biliteracy Awards

The Massachusetts Seal of Biliteracy is given in recognition of students who have tested and proven an Intermediate-High level of a second language.

Nathan Cardin - Italian

Maria Cummings - Italian
Sophia DeHart - Spanish
Ava DeOliveira - Spanish
Gracy Giammarco - Italian
Tiago Gomez - Spanish
Caroline Jenks - Italian
Samar Johar - Spanish
Kyla Kelley - Italian
Sophia La Vita - Spanish
Katherine Murphy - Spanish

Sofia Pitzen - Italian

The State Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction Awards

The Massachusetts Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction is given in recognition of students who have tested and proven an Advanced-Low level of proficiency of a second language. This is the highest award achievement possible.

Nathan Murray - Spanish

The following students have earned Trilingual Awards as they have demonstrated proficiency in English, their heritage language, and a third language here at Wilmington High School.

Neda Stoeva

Seal of Biliteracy in Bulgarian and Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish

Mantvydas Banevicius

Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish and with Distinction in Lithuanian

We are immensely proud of all these students and all of the students who continued their world language journey!

National Language Awards

We were very proud to recognize the students who earned recognition on the Le Grand Concours (National French Exam), and the National Spanish Exam.

These exams were administered nationally and internationally and recognize outstanding achievement in students’ abilities to understand and use their second language skills! From 2013 to 2023, Wilmington High School students have earned 412 national language award recognitions in French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin! This year these students have added 32 more awards!

Achievement awards are given to students who earn above the 50-60th percentile of all exam takers in their respective language and levels. The Bronze Medal is awarded for students who score above the 75th percentile, the Silver Medal above the 85th percentile, and the Gold Medal for students above the 95th percentile.

National Italian Exam

Achievement Awards

Spencer Bagtaz

Charlotte Forcina

Dylan Grace

Bronze Medal

Olivia Saragosa

National Spanish Exam

Achievement Awards

Domenic Guisti

Ellen Corradi

Jleren Mireles

Paola Rodrigues

Kyle Tibbetts

Annika Held

Kaytlin Shackelford

Cameron Pereira

Emma Nolan

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick

Vincent Anastasia

Daniel D'Augusta

Maria Da Rosa

Ajay Gupta

Amelia Stokes

Celina Vo

Molly Guyette

Bronze Medal

Paulo Pereira

Tiphanny DaSilva

Jay Karani

Caroline Donovan

Marisa Ferreira

Hanna Oliveira

Silver Medal

Nathan Murray

Neda Stoeva

Gold Medal

Allison Hall

National French Exam

Honorable Mention

Adania Deshnica

Bronze Medal

Purnima Thapa

Silver Medal

Anna Jancsics

MAFLA Awards

MAFLA Excellence in World Language. This certificate is conferred upon the student who has demonstrated excellence (highest achievement) in the most advanced course of each language taught in each school.

This year's awards went to:

French - Anna Jancsics

Italian - Dean Ciampa

Spanish - Nathan Murray

The awards ended with a special cameo video from Mr. Nicholas Ferroni. There are not a lot of education “celebrities” but this special message came from an inspirational educator and advocate. He was named one of the "100 Making a Difference" for his commitment to education reform and has developed the “Teach the Truth” campaign to incorporate more minority figures in social studies curriculum as well as including the history of the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights movement. He was recently named the "Upstander of the Year" by the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) for his outspoken advocacy and support for LGBTQ youth.

@nicolasferroni

Thank you to Sia Patel, WHS 9th grader, who took pictures at the event for us. A folder with those pictures can be found at this link: World Language Celebration Photos (WPS Emails Only)