Five months ago, the Seymour Owl announced the new Certificate of Multilingual Scholars. The Certificate is an award that signifies that students have proficiency in any language other than English and students may take the test at any time. One student, junior Natalia Garcia, has taken full advantage of this academic opportunity and passed her examination, obtaining her certificate. Here is what she had to say:

Q.) What languages did you apply for?

A.) I actually only took the Spanish one, but I also applied for the French one.

Q.)  How did you hear about the program? What made you want to apply for the test?

A.) I heard about the program through my French teacher. I felt like I was qualified enough to take both language tests.

Q.) Did you get the certificate?

A.)  Yes, I did, only the Spanish one though.

Q.) How do you feel that the Certificate of Multilingual will help in the future, maybe in getting a job?

A.) I think it will broaden my options and make my resume look better when I apply for internships or jobs once I get to college.

Q.) What’s your background like? How did you learn the multiple languages that you know?

A.) Spanish is my first language.  I grew up speaking both English and Spanish. A few years ago, my dad felt it was important that I continue to study more languages so he signed me up for an online French class. I’ve also been taking French since my freshman year.

Q.) Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience with the certification test?

A.) The reading and listening parts are very easy in my opinion. Even as a native Spanish speaker, the program doesn’t give you enough time to process the question. I found the writing and speaking parts the most challenging. The questions and writing prompts get harder as you progress through the program, but all in all I thought it was pretty straightforward.

Natalia wants to go into computer science and “some kind of engineering” after high school. She says she also considers minoring in Spanish and translating for students during the time that she is in college or afterwards. Hopefully, with the acquirement of her Certificate of Multilingual Scholars, she can achieve her dreams.