Lee’s Summit R7 Students Receive Missouri Seal of Biliteracy
The state of Missouri has awarded a total of 122 students with a total of 126 Seals from the Lee’s Summit R7 School District with the Seal of Biliteracy award. LSR7 students earned seals this year in 9 languages during its sixth year of the program, which promotes language proficiency. This award recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency through rigorous nationally standardized testing in speaking, reading, listening, and writing in one or more world languages, in addition to English.
Students may have gained proficiency through any number of traditional or nontraditional methods, as a heritage language learner or as a new language learner. Students who have attained the Seal of Biliteracy have an intermediate level of proficiency and students who have attained the Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy have an advanced level of proficiency. The Seal of Biliteracy is listed on the high school transcript and offers vast opportunities for those pursuing higher education or joining the workforce.
Missouri Seal of Biliteracy 2023
107 LSR7 high school graduates this year achieved the necessary proficiency to earn 111 Seals of Biliteracy across 9 languages including 1 Seal of Biliteracy for Amharic, 2 Seals of Biliteracy for Arabic, 16 Seals of Biliteracy for French, 13 Seals of Biliteracy for German, 1 Seal of Biliteracy in Italian, 1 Seal of Biliteracy for Korean, 7 Seals of Biliteracy for Mandarin Chinese, 66 Seals of Biliteracy for Spanish and 3 Seals of Biliteracy in Urdu. Students earning the Seal of Biliteracy are:
Amharic: LSHS: Michael Astatke
Arabic: LSHS: Waseem Qakei, Tasnime Amellal
French: LSHS: Sabra Jones, Shirley Montano San Juan, Shannon Stout, Katelyn Williams,
LSNHS: Ana Cardoza, Areej Falah, Kennedy McEnany, Mahinanui Tovey, Caroline Anthony, JT Baker, Ashlyn Bandelier, Grace Boston, Alayna Cleaver, Mia Gatti
LSWHS: Keira Eichelkraut, Mia Guidolin
German: LSHS: Anna Latman, Dylan Seitz
LSNHS: Logan Binger, Drew Crimi, Alex Brooke, Alexis Clark, Bryce Glenn, Karsten Keller, Scott Kleffner, Austin Lee, Leyton Porterfield, Brynn Thompson
LSWHS: Madden Stutts
Italian: LSWHS: Mia Guidolin
Korean: LSWHS: Andy Kang
Mandarin Chinese: LSHS: Sophia Lin
LSNHS: Mia Forney, Sophia Jones
LSWHS: Lydia Grider, Anthony Klote, Benton Vahle, Ava Wischnewski
Russian: Hlib Serhieiev
Spanish: LSHS: Addison Baker, Emily Pace, Corina Sisk, Luke Alexopoulos, Tasnime Amellal, Emily Bartlett, Ethan Cha, Briana Crites, Gracelyn Crow, Angelina Hodes, Aaron Maciejewski, Shirley Montano San Juan, Dielon Newell, Samantha Nguyen, Alexis Perez Acero, Diego Rosado, Charlee Scruggs, Wade Seiler, Lydia Francis, Catalina Vargas, Dayanara Villareal
LSNHS: Sam Aamodt, Andrew Allen, Eli Block, Ann Boehnlein, Ana Cardoza, Johnasia Carter, Rex Chukwusom, Tyler Cotten, Malia Dooley, Tyson Ekiss, Sienna Ficken, Cooper Finley, William Gardenhire, Gabrielle Hightower, Avery Hook, Cierra King, Jacob Manning, Xander McKie, La’Ray McKinley, Macy McKinne, Josh Navarrete, Wyatt Phillips, Sasha Plowman, Kendra Rodriguez, Greyson Saxon, Cielo Vitor, Kellen Wills
LSWHS: Justin Andrews, Anahi Arroyo, Readan Ballard, Cole Butler, Nila Channels, Regan Clewell, Ellie Curp, Brylie Ellis, Mindy Evans, Faith Glasgow, Mia Guidolin, Michael Harlow, Rosalia Herrera, Andrea Leiker, Carmen Marshall, Davin Mathes, Kara Miller, Ethan Nguyen, Ellie Reed, Alayna Saverino, Angel Vandiver
Urdu: LSHS: Hafsa Ahmed
LSNHS: Sahar Faizan, Muhammad Yousaf
Missouri Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy 2023
15 LSR7 high school graduates this year achieved the necessary proficiency to earn 15 Distinguished Seals across 4 languages including 1 Distinguished Seals of Biliteracy for French, 1 Distinguished Seals of Biliteracy for German, 1 Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy for Mandarin Chinese and 12 Distinguished Seals of Biliteracy for Spanish. Students earning the Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy are:
French: LSNHS: Hannah Yohe
German: LSWHS: Carter Cox
Mandarin Chinese: LSHS: Hannah Tai
Spanish: LSHS: Abigail Arellano, Mary Brooks, Evelyn Lopez, Elijah Rowland
LSNHS: Hayden Davies, Weston Hemmerling, Raegan Parker, Juan Perez
LSWHS: Andres Dominguez, Liberty Lyon, Alex Santoro, Bradley Sonnichsen
Graduating senior students who earned the Seal of Biliteracy were honored at the Academic Achievement Awards at Lee’s Summit, Lee’s Summit North, and Lee’s Summit West High Schools in April. Students who qualified for a Seal of Biliteracy or Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy with their International Baccalaureate language test score were mailed their awards in July.