HLC: Multilingual Marauders- The Multilingual Students of Waipahu High School Working to Bring Success to Their Community Through Language 

Andrew Smith

Imagine yourself in a new environment, surrounded by a different culture and way of  life. This spiraling array of new ideas and customs makes life feel like a maze with no end. As  you try to acclimate towards meeting your basic needs, this new setting continues to throw  curveballs in the form of finding services available to you, and dealing with a culture that  seems to counteract everything you’ve been taught growing up. The worst part, in addition, is  that all of this is happening in a language you may not understand, or in which you may not  know how to express yourself properly. The efforts of those reaching out to help you are  invisible to you, all because of a language barrier. It sounds like a scary set of circumstances  to go through, doesn’t it? 

Unfortunately, this scenario is a common reality among immigrants who have found  their new home here in Hawai’i. Many of these families may not be aware of services  available to them, such as healthcare or student lunches, and could use some support getting  connected. As luck would have it, there exists a bright group of students at Waipahu High  School who work to do just that. The student translator internship, organized by the  Multilingual Learners program coordinator at Waipahu High School, Jeremiah Brown, works  to build a bridge between these families and the community around them by enabling  students to apply their multilingual skills. There are currently eight Filipino students who  contribute invaluable work to Filipino- and Ilokano-speaking families in high schools and in  their communities from Pearl City to Wai’anae by employing their native language as translators. Jeremiah has created translator internship opportunities not only for Filipino and  Ilokano speakers, but also for those with other language backgrounds including two students  each who speak Chuukese, Marshallese, and Samoan. During my visit, I spoke with several  of the Filipino- and Ilokano-speaking students.

The students in the translator internship program specialize in creating resources in  languages other than English to provide parents and students with limited English proficiency  access to important information about the school, such as translated flyers, report cards and  teacher profiles to keep parents involved in their child’s education. Among these resources  are translated versions of information previously available only in English, such as school  announcements. “Back during COVID the school made announcements about health,  vaccines and testing as well as online school, mask policy, how to pick up school laptops and  it was all in English,” Jeremiah said. “Information going out was urgent but confusing; when  that happened, it opened my eyes about how we need to do better. Ever since then, we’re  working to create more resources in other languages for families from different communities.”  In addition, the resources include audiobooks and videos introducing career pathways  available to students at the high school. “Their work has led to better relationships between  students and teachers, more parent involvement in school and 8th graders making more  informed choices about their career pathway,” Jeremiah said.

In the 2024 student translator showcase, presented at the end of the internship last  summer to the Waipahu community including parents and teachers, Jeremiah’sstudent interns presented the work they’ve put together, covering an extensive variety of projects for their school such as translated parent surveys, informative flyers, and teacher profiles, all  translated for families with limited or no English proficiency. In addition, they produced career  academy videos in the target languages; the videos present an overview of each pathway at  Waipahu High School to help parents and students decide which career path they think would  be best. The showcase also featured a number of guest speakers, including Dr. Yoshimi,  Director of the Roadmap Initiative, each covering a variety of topics such as how the Seal of  Biliteracy and language use contributes to resumes, interpreter training, and language access  laws. 

Much of this work wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of the Leeward District’s  hard-working Bilingual School-Home Assistants (BSHAs) that I had the opportunity to meet  alongside Jeremiah and the students involved in the internship. Arlene Helgeson and Marietta  Uyehara are the two BSHAs tasked with Ilokano and Tagalog, using their skills to work with  families and children across the island. “We are the liaisons between Filipino families and the  school, and we advocate for them so they can navigate our school system better,” Arlene said.  “If parents have questions about the school, we’re there to help them, and when the school  wants to communicate with the families they go through us. The parents can understand the  teachers better and the school can understand the students and the families.” The BSHAs  also conduct native language proficiency assessments for newly arrived students. Apart from  the Tagalog and Ilokano communities, there are also BSHAs working to support speakers  from others such as the Samoan, Marshallese, and Chuukese communities.

The work done by BSHAs seems pretty simple at first, but their resolve goes much  deeper than just helping students on a linguistic level. Jeremiah gave an example of how their  work stretches beyond language. “The BSHAs are a big part of my job and I’m always sending  them requests for things and on top of everything else they’re also kind of like social workers,”  he said. “We had a student who was missing a lot of school, and the teachers were concerned  about her health so we asked the BSHAs to talk to the family. It turned out that the family  wasn’t on a health insurance plan yet so they directed them to connections who set them up  with health insurance. So it’s not just things like language support but connecting them to basic  needs.”

Although there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with being a BSHA, there are many  rewarding factors that come with what they do. “I can see myself staying in this career because  I love sharing my culture, I love to help other people,” Marietta said. “There’s always a need  when it comes to using your language, be it at the supermarket, at the hospital or school,  there’s always a need.” As more families become connected with the school, the BSHAs face  a problem with supplying their program with enough staff. Arlene said, “We handle 44 schools  from Pearl City to Waianae. We don't want to limit the services that we offer but sometimes we  can’t really service all of them. As much as we want to do more for the schools, sometimes  we’re so overwhelmed.” Because of the staff shortage faced by BSHAs who contribute so  much to this program, Jeremiah advocates alongside the BSHAs for higher recognition of this  role. He said, “We’re lucky in our district to have a team of BSHAs, not every district has that  so we’ve been pushing the state legislature to fund more positions and pathways to become a  BSHA.”

The BSHAs’ projects don't just stop at language though -- they promote their culture as  well through presenting in classrooms and at cultural expos to help others embrace their  culture here in Hawai’i. They utilize the videos presented at the showcase that shed light on  Filipino folklore in the form of audiobook recordings to share their stories from the Philippines  and promote bilingualism and their culture. Marietta said, “We also do cultural presentations to  different schools just to promote our culture and for other people to embrace Filipino culture.  We like to educate staff so they’re more aware of the different backgrounds that students  come from and can better help the students.”

The most remarkable achievement for me was the effort given by Jeremiah alongside  the student translators towards creating school level Seal of Biliteracy tests and the extent to  which students from smaller communities were reached. I was taken aback by the scale of how

many languages they worked to create Seal of Biliteracy assessments for by utilizing the help of  speakers from each respective community such as teachers, an interpreter, and a BSHA. There  were some languages that I’ve never heard of that had school level assessments created for  them, such as Kosraean and Pohnpeian, Micronesian languages that are prevalent here in  Hawai’i. “They didn’t have official tests for these languages so we created school level Seal of  Biliteracy tests by reaching out to these communities, asking for help in recognizing these  students and giving them a Waipahu High School Seal in their native language,” said Jeremiah.  “It wouldn’t be fair to not honor and celebrate them just because there’s not an official test. In  doing that it really sends out a message to these communities that we care. It kind of sheds  light on the issue to the Department of Education and that there’s a need for these to have  official tests.” Over the years, Waipahu High School students have earned Seals of Biliteracy  for eighteen different languages. He said, “This year we’re going for Itawis, Ulithian, and  Mortlockese, which is related to Chuukese. That’s one thing our school has been about- getting  everybody in. We don’t care if your language doesn't have an official test yet, we’ll figure out a  way to celebrate it. We’ll find someone who can score it, and try to include everybody.”

Many of these languages eventually became officially recognized by the state  Department of Education after Jeremiah’s team advocated for them, each having their own  assessment created as “less commonly taught languages.” Speakers of languages such as  Tongan, Pangasinan, and Visayan had school level seals created for them in 2021 but were  missing an official assessment and weren’t eligible for the Seal of Biliteracy. In the following  years, the state Department of Education partnered with an assessment company to officially  recognize these languages, along with several others.

Jeremiah’s student translator internship has also given students the experience of  exercising their language skills and applying them to contributions they make to the school  and around their community. “Mr. Brown introduced us to this opportunity to earn some money  and enhance not just our native language but English as well,” one student translator said.  Another student agreed, “It was also a chance for us to analyze our own language and learn  about it while doing this program” and then continued, “There are things that you know the  meaning of, but not how to translate it, so we learned how to apply certain skills to our work  and gain experience through that.” The students also acknowledged that the program helps  them recognize their potential as proficient bilingual speakers. “We’re gonna be 18 soon and  those opportunities are there to use our voice and make a big difference in navigating our  future ourselves.”

Surviving in a new environment is undoubtedly difficult, especially for those trapped  behind a language barrier. Families with limited or no English proficiency will no longer have to  experience this reality alone thanks to all the advancements made by the student translator  interns of Waipahu High School alongside the help of the Bilingual School-Home Assistants.  “We want to expand our reach and draw on the talents of our students; there’s a need for  more language access and there’s talent here that can do it,” Jeremiah said. As shown in the  student translator showcase, Jeremiah’s team touches on various aspects of language from its  cultural elements to the way we utilize it in our society. With extensive efforts, these

achievements extend all the way to even the smallest and lesser known language  communities, giving acknowledgement and recognition through the creation of Waipahu High  School Seals of Biliteracy. Through Jeremiah's student translator internship, students will  understand more deeply the value that their language background holds. One student  reflected on the awareness he has gained from the internship, “I see language as more  important now, back then I didn’t really know what else I could do with it. Seeing all the  opportunities from Mr. Brown made me acknowledge all the opportunities I have with my  language.” As the program expands into new horizons, more and more families from even the  smallest of communities will feel more comfortable in calling Hawaiʻi home.

Multilingual Marauders site- www.bit.ly/multilingualmarauders

(Also check out the Multilingual Marauders Youtube channel!)

Andrew Smith is a graduating Journalism student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. From Las Vegas, Andrew grew up with an interest in reporting and sharing multicultural stories through writing. After university, Andrew plans to expand his career to more international settings and increase publications as a freelance journalist.