Yesenia Gijon, Brenda Ballesteros, and Astrid Gonzalez Pacheco (returning staffers). Courtesy photos.
SANTA MARIA — The SMHS bilingual yearbook made so much of an impact for students and families with diverse ethnic backgrounds, it was recently featured in a national magazine by Walsworth Publishing, one of the top four yearbook printers in America.
Before the multicultural yearbook was produced last year, English-only sales lagged compared to other high schools within the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, according to Saint English Teacher and Advisor Tina van den Heever.
The new book integrated snippets of Spanish such as a quote, word or headline. That was combined with the normal culturally rich activities photographed like murals with Latino history, dance and music groups and other topics.
“This allows family members who are non-English speaking to also appreciate their student’s school year,’’ said van den Heever, adding the entire book, minus the photo captions, was translated by campus translator Liliana Espinoza. “It is very rare.’’
The idea started when a staffer asked a yearbook question and the student replied in Spanish even though the student was bilingual. Staffers then asked van den Heever if they should translate it and she replied, “why not leave it in Spanish”.
This year, the yearbook staff has 33 students, compared to 15 last year.
