How a former English learner student from Modesto is set to graduate with an AP Diploma
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Journey to Graduation
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When Jamie Frias Vargas entered Modesto City Schools, the only language she knew was Spanish. By the end of her high school career, she is now bilingual and will have one of the newest diplomas in the district—an Advanced Placement, or AP Diploma.
Vargas slowly began to pick up English when she attended school, quickly making friends and peers who helped her pick up on slang and the language more easily. By the time she entered high school, she was considered fluent and decided to enter AP classes because of how academically rigorous her friends were.
“I think the stigma or the scariness around AP classes is very easily negated through having people who will help you throughout those AP classes,” she said. “So that can be anyone. That can be teachers. That can be students. That could be your peers or your friends.”
She is one of nearly 60 students at Gregori High School who signed up for the AP Capstone Program. The school has had this program for around 2 years.
“I chose specifically to go to Gregori,” she said. “I chose that because I saw more academic competitiveness there then I did at those at the schools that my siblings went to and I just saw how much more I could do there.”
To obtain the diploma, students must take AP Seminar and AP Research during their sophomore and junior year, and 4 other AP classes. For these courses, a student must receive scores of 3 or higher.
Vargas took around 13 AP classes. Her favorites included AP Psychology, AP Seminar and AP Research. Because of these classes, she plans to attend UC Davis for their cognitive science program.
She would be the first in her family to graduate college.
“I think having that workload and just knowing how to manage my time with AP Seminar and all these APs that I’ve been taking has really helped with diminishing procrastination and all that other stuff,” she said.“It’s really helped me understand the amount of time and effort that I have to put in to really excel in my education.”
By passing many of her AP classes in high school, she will be able to skip some beginner-level classes when she enters college in the fall, such as English 101.
She hopes more English learner students will follow her path and discover how important and beneficial AP classes are.
“I think socialization is really important when it comes to acquiring a language,” Vargas said. “So I think even though it might be really scary or you might not want to talk to your peers, I think your peers will be really useful actually into learning the language.”
Ojo: Modesto City Schools have approximately 7,534 English Learners this year, around 2,392 of whom are in high school.
This story was originally published May 21, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
