Five Fulton Seniors Earn Seal of Biliteracy; District Celebrates First Trilingual Seal

Fulton City School District announced that five students earned the New York State Seal of Biliteracy this year, and one student earned a Seal of Triliteracy, district staff said at the board meeting.

District staff described the seal as a senior‑year pathway that requires students to demonstrate intermediate‑high proficiency in English and a second language through testing and a year‑long research project culminating in a presentation to a panel. The district said candidates present their research and answer questions in the target language on a countywide presentation day.

Staff member Carrie Halliday, a work‑experience facilitator, said the district increased participation from one candidate last year to five this year. The district named students who earned seals: Audrey (Spanish and English), Wilbur Ramirez Vasquez (Spanish and English), Jace Wernick (Spanish and English), and a student who earned biliteracy in Arabic and English. The district also noted Solange Catanalinski as the district’s first student to earn a Seal of Triliteracy (Spanish, French and English).

Audrey described her project, which examined ceramics in different cultures. She said the seal process required planning a research project across the year, completing research, preparing a presentation in the target language and answering panel questions. Audrey said the process also counts as a senior final project and that the seal adds a diploma notation that may help in internships and job applications.

Board members and administrators hailed the growth in seal recipients as a milestone and discussed expanding language and cultural opportunities in earlier grades. Staff said seal candidacy requires students to take language coursework through senior year and to reach a proficiency threshold on assessments; students who do not meet the rubric level can still present but may not earn the seal level.

District officials said the candidates completed proficiency tests (noted as ACTFL/ALP tests in the meeting) in Spanish, French and Arabic. Staff encouraged younger students and families to consider world‑language pathways as part of the district’s “portrait of a graduate” initiative.

The board applauded the students and thanked world‑language teachers and staff for supporting the pathway.