Chelmsford Students Awarded State Seal of Biliteracy

CHELMSFORD, MA — Nine Chelmsford High School seniors earned the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Seal of Biliteracy, and 18 others earned recognition, the district announced Wednesday.

The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes high school graduates who attain high-functioning and academic levels of proficiency in English and a world language —through reading, writing, listening and speaking— by graduation. Students who received a score of six in all four categories earned the Seal of Biliteracy, while students who scored a seven or higher received the Seal with Distinction.

Of the nine seniors, Giovana Vieira (Portuguese) and Tarmo Tari (Estonian) earned the Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction while Youssef Soliman earned the Seal in both Arabic and French.

"We are thrilled that so many seniors are taking advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate and be recognized for their multilingual skills,” said Jessica Nollet, coordinator of world languages at Chelmsford Public Schools. “There are over 60 different home languages spoken by families and students in the Chelmsford Public Schools, and taking an exam to qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy is a wonderful way for these students to be celebrated.”

All 27 seniors who took the exam earned honors.

Chelmsford High School's 27 seniors covered eight languages: Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Telugu, Mandarin, Arabic and Estonian.

2021 Massachusetts DESE Seal of Biliteracy Recipients

Seal of Biliteracy Language

• Tarmo Tari Estonian (With Distinction)
• Giovana Vieira Portuguese (With Distinction)
• Youssef Soliman French, Arabic
• Sachi Joshi Spanish
• Kaili Lamb Spanish
• Cassandra Larkin Spanish
• Diya Panchal Hindi
• Nicolle Reyes Spanish
• Anirudh Singh Hindi

Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Achievement Award

• Sachi Joshi Spanish
• Parnika Koppana French
• Serena Pan Mandarin
• Sana Patel Spanish
• Ethan Meltzer French
• Michael Schwamb French
• Leticia Toledo Portuguese
• Jenna Ward French

Language Opportunity Coalition Biliteracy Attainment Award

• Jillian Brennan-Barbeau French
• Julia Elizabeth Bates French
• Shreyas Chaturvedula Telugu
• Ameer Haidar French
• Alexander Harvey Spanish
• Amelia Carol-Ann Hughes French
• Andrew Kochnar French
• Parnika Koppana Telugu
• Aaliyah Scott Spanish
• Gabriel Stafford French