Fabiola Espinoza-Pacheco and Sinahi Oaxaca Seal the Deal!

On January 30 of 2024, South Dakota became the 50th and final state to establish bilingual seal for high school graduates. The seal, which is affixed to the graduates’ diplomas, signifies the graduate has completed coursework in another language that certified them as fully bilingual and literate. For its part, New Mexico became the fifth state to establish a bilingual seal program, doing so on March 8, 2014. Sinahi Oaxaca is one of the most recent recipients of this distinction, earning not one, not two, but three such seals upon graduating from Albuquerque high school in 2024. Listen as we learn about the district, state, and global bilingual seals from her perspective, as well as the perspective of one of her most enthusiastic advocates, Fabiola Espinoza-Pacheco, the bilingual education coordinator at Albuquerque High. Along the way, we learn about how Sinahi and Fabiola followed different but parallel paths in their journeys to become bilingual and biliterate adults. We also discuss dual-language education and how it contrasts with transitional bilingual education. Finally, Armenian anyone?