Bilingual & Proud: Meet BVSD graduate & Transitions student Giovanni Guevara

October is Bilingual Child Month, a time where we recognize the cognitive and cultural benefits of bilingualism in children, and celebrate the parents and educators who are fostering bilingualism at home and in schools. BVSD’s Bilingual and Proud campaign elevates bilingualism as a super power for our students and families.

In the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) there are many different ways bilingualism is supported in our schools. BVSD has multiple dual-language schools and schools that offer dual language programming, as well as English language development.

BVSD students are supported in working toward earning the state seal of biliteracy upon graduation or the bilingual commendation which honors students who demonstrate speaking and listening proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation.

WATCH VIDEO: Orgullosa de ser Bilingüe (Bilingual and Proud)

Meet BVSD graduate and Transitions student: Giovanni Guevara

Giovanni Guevara is a proud bilingual BVSD alumnus. He began elementary school at Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, a dual-language school in Lafayette, then continued through Angevine Middle School and graduated last spring from Centaurus High School.

Giovanni comes from a dual-language home, his family primarily speaks Spanish, so when he started school he was learning English as a second language. Giovanni has Down syndrome, and worked to not only graduate high school with his classmates, but also earned his Spanish bilingual commendation from BVSD's Office of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE).

Students who earn either the bilingual commendation or the seal of biliteracy receive a certificate, are invited to BVSD’s Bilingual and Proud celebration in the spring (this year’s is Friday April 17th from 4 -8 p.m. at the BVSD Ed Center) and can highlight this achievement on their future school applications and resumes. 

Following his graduation, Giovanni is now a student in the BVSD Transitions program, which works with students ages 18-21 who have finished four years of high school but require additional time to achieve their IEP identified post-secondary goals. They offer training to students to prepare them for post-school opportunities and students develop work skills in real employment environments.

From kindergarten to graduation day

Giovanni’s mom, Karla, says her son’s experience in BVSD was positive.

“He started at Pioneer when he was about four years old, and everyone was so awesome with him, he got a lot of help,” says Karla. “Especially as a bilingual child, and with Down syndrome he had to be learning so many things, he struggled with English at first since we didn’t speak that as much at home. They were speaking to him in both languages at school which made him expand his understanding very quickly.”

Then in middle school, Giovanni joined the Intensive Learning Center (ILC) for students with multiple needs at Angevine where his mother says he continued to develop his bilingualism, and then went onto Centaurus for high school.

“He enjoyed his time at Centaurus so much, especially the last two years. He had a great special education teacher, Katie Thomas, she had always tried to get him to be involved in anything after school, even involving him in sports. He also had a paraeducator supporting him, Maria Rivas who was bilingual — he talked about her every day — they made such a huge impact in his education and development.”

His teacher now in the Transitions program, Olivia Foulkrod, says "We love having him here." Foulkrod has spent her career as a bilingual educator and shared that "one great thing about Giovanni is he is so proud to be bilingual, he is so happy when you speak Spanish to him and he often teaches others Spanish words and songs."

He now takes courses and works various jobs in the Transitions program, including positions at the University of Colorado Boulder campus.

A gift of connection

Thomas, his former teacher, is excited for Giovanni’s future as an adult. She says that his multi-language approach makes it easier for him to communicate with any person he meets.

“One thing about Giovanni is no matter what language he is using — he also took two years of sign language, so he uses three languages to communicate, English, Spanish and ASL — he is able to connect with any person, no matter the language,” said Thomas. 

“We would always honor whatever language he wanted to use at the time, but he would alternate, when he would see his Spanish-speaking peers he would speak in Spanish, he may use the ASL sign for friend, then talk about the cafeteria in English. He has an incredible gift to connect with people, and is very diligent in getting his message across. He wants to be heard and understood, and we value that in special needs programming.”

“I think that people are drawn to him when he’s in the work setting and the community setting. He is a light and a joy- he’s just gonna brighten up your day. He has that desire and passion to communicate so he’s gonna figure out a way to connect with any person.”

Thomas says one of Giovanni’s super powers is that can make friends with anyone and his ability to communicate in multiple languages makes that even easier.

Thomas shared that when newcomer students (newly English-speaking families who only spoke Spanish) came to the school, Giovanni would be one of the first to communicate with them in their home language.

“That’s a huge thing for those kids,” said Thomas. “That they can make a friend in Giovanni.”

She also shared, “What's incredible is that Giovanni actually teaches other people Spanish, one of his friends has a different home language and Giovanni would work to teach him some Spanish words so they could communicate even better with each other.”

Maintaining home language with family

Bilingual education at the school-level is only one part of Giovanni’s success, the other started at home.

“We speak Spanish at home, with some English, we go between. I would always encourage Giovanni ‘you need to learn Spanish and English, it’s important.” 

Because our house is Spanish-speaking, Spanish is still his preferred language but if he hears us talking in English- he can recognize the words and speak in English. He knows his numbers in English, sometimes even though you may think he doesn’t really understand your English, he knows.”

Karla says earning the bilingual commendation was an important recognition for him, “It's great because he did learn in both languages, and it’s twice as hard especially with his disabilities. It was great, you know, because despite his limitations he understands most of what anyone around him is saying in Spanish and English. We are proud of that.”

Looking to the future

His efforts in school and in learning two languages will expand his opportunities in life as an adult and so much of his accomplishments are thanks to his family and teachers who supported him every step of the way.

Kristin Nelson-Steinhoff, the Director of BVSD’s CLDE department emphasizes that maintaining a student’s bilingualism is an achievement by all of the important people in their life along with their own commitment to learning.

“To see him on graduation day with his green cord (the graduation cord that signifies achievement in bilingualism) was thrilling,” says Nelson-Steinhoff. “It’s a significant recognition of the work himself, his teachers and his family did to make him a bilingual individual entering adulthood.”

While Giovanni definitely is missing his high school days at Centaurus, so far he’s doing well in the BVSD Transitions program. “He likes it, he still has a few friends in the program, but it’s a hard adjustment for all of those students leaving high school and the routines they had there.”

Some of Giovanni’s hopes for the future include finding his next steps as an adult. 

“He says he wants to work at Walmart because he has some high school friends that work there, but it’s hard as a parent of a child with a disability, you feel protective and worried but adult life is working and he has to find something to do to give them purpose.”

When asked what Karla is most proud of in Giovanni’s school and post-graduate life she says “He is very kind to everybody, he is a very loving kid with a huge heart. Anybody who is upset, or needs a hug, he is in tune with that and is the first one to offer.”