Edison High Graduate will Pursue her Love of Languages

Yessenia Sierra, a recent Edison High School graduate, earned State Seals of Biliteracy in both Spanish and Hmong, and she doesn’t plan on stopping there. Her goal is to learn five more languages. 

Yessenia is among 839 students earning State Seals of Biliteracy this year, the most since Fresno Unified began participating in the program in 2011, and 127 more than last year. She is the only student to earn seals in both Hmong and Spanish in the recent school year. 

The Seal of Biliteracy program recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. The seal is affixed to diplomas, and students also receive medals.

Earning a California Seal of Biliteracy can benefit students immediately on a college or job application, and in the years to come if they decide to pursue a minor or major in their second language, or a career that requires skills in more than one language.

Spanish was Yessenia’s first language, so attaining the state seal in Spanish was not a stretch. What was unusual was to also pursue a state seal in Hmong as well. But at the encouragement of Hmong friends, she decided to take a Hmong Heritage class in her junior year and found that she enjoyed it and did well in the class.

“It was fun. It was interesting to me,” said Yessenia, who was the only non-Hmong student in the class.

Pursuing the state seals is part of her passion for other cultures and languages. She has been pre-admitted to Zhejiang University in China, where she will learn Chinese. She also wants to learn Japanese, French, Italian and German. She has already traveled internationally, to Japan during her sophomore year on summer study trip with other Edison students.

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in this little town,” Yessenia said. “I want to explore the world. I’m very fascinated with languages and also learning about the history behind them.”

As she prepares to go to college in China, she is getting a headstart on learning Chinese through study books and YouTube videos.

She aspires to be a translator, either working for a government agency or establishing her own business. She understands the important service that skilled translators provide. As a child, her parents did not speak any English, and they relied on her and her sister to translate for them.

“I remember that I did not want to, or didn’t know how to do it,” she said.

She also recalls a bad accident her mother was in that the family should have filed a lawsuit over, but the language barrier made it too difficult.

Her parents, who own a taco truck, are proud of all that she has accomplished and her aspirations.

“They’re happy that I’m able to chase my dreams. They weren’t able to do that,” Yessenia said.

 

 

Written by: Anne Ellis

Photos: Jonathan DeLaCerda