Catalina Foothills students earn record 68 Arizona Seals of Biliteracy

The Catalina Foothills Unified School District honored graduating seniors who earned the Arizona Seal of Biliteracy at its May 13, 2025 governing board meeting, announcing a record 68 seals across eight languages and multiple distinctions.

Board member Jacqueline DiVali presented certificates and pins to students and explained the award’s requirements: “The Arizona Seal of Biliteracy was created in 2016 by the legislature to award students a diploma seal and recognition on their transcripts for demonstrated proficiency in a secondary language,” she said, adding that students must meet the English language arts component and pass the STAMP proficiency assessment in the second language.

The district said the 2025 seals include Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Six students earned seals in two languages. DiVali noted that 2025 is the first graduating class to include students who began in the Sunrise Drive Mandarin Chinese immersion kindergarten cohort and that multiple graduates who began in the district’s Spanish immersion program also earned the seal.

Superintendent Denise Bartlett congratulated students and described the district’s language programs as part of its mission to “enable each student to flourish as a responsible citizen in the global community.” The board and staff asked students to come forward to receive certificates and pins; the board also took a group photo with the honorees.

The district said it publishes the full list of honorees and their distinctions in its board materials and on the CFSD website. DiVali said the district offers two distinction levels for the seal — silver and gold — with gold representing a higher level of assessed proficiency.

The presentation was ceremonial; no board vote or policy change was made during the awards portion of the meeting.