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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

Seniors Charlotte Putnam and Leilani Domijan set up the Seal of Biliteracy recipient board in the main hallway. Last year, Putnam and Domijan both earned their Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish. “Earning the Seal of Biliteracy shows your determination and your willingness to move forward even when it’s hard. My advice is practice often, remember that practice makes perfect and [know] there [are] always opportunities to improve,” Domijan said.

Sealing the deal

Sage Kelly, Features/News Editor April 18, 2026

On Feb. 5 and 6, students across the school met in the library to take the annual Seal of Biliteracy Exam. Testing their proficiency, they proved their linguistic mastery in a total of 12 different languages...

Standing in front of the American Sign Language program’s mural, junior Brooke Hoenecke signs with freshman Darren Young. Hoenecke began cadet teaching for ASL this year alongside working towards earning her seal of biliteracy. “I was in ASL class when I received the email [that I qualified for the seal]. I was jumping up and down with my teacher and the rest of the class. One of the reasons why I took cadet teaching this year was so that I could prepare for the Seal of Biliteracy and be immersed in ASL,” Hoenecke said.

Fluent in silence

Samir Shaik, Multimedia Editor-in-Chief May 29, 2024

On May 15 at the 56th annual Honors Ceremony, junior Brooke Hoenecke walked across the stage after marking a landmark achievement for the school: becoming West’s first student to earn the Seal of Biliteracy...

With five languages under her belt, junior Suraiya Saroar's plan to become fluent in several languages is underway. Although she is also fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu and Arabic, Saroar's first language, Bangla, is the most important to her to speak fluently. "It is especially important to me to be able to speak my native language, so I can speak to all my relatives properly and not have to worry about them not understanding me," Saroar said.

Proud to be a polyglot

Anna Claywell, Staff Writer March 10, 2023

Walking through the halls, hundreds of conversations in English surround junior Suraiya Saroar, though her mind goes from language to language. As a friend catches up to her to chat, she replies with an...