After 7 years, 26 Central Iowa students graduate from dual language Spanish program

By Nicole Tam

Click here for updates on this story

    WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Seven years ago, Western Hills Elementary School in West Des Moines started a Spanish Immersion pilot program for 26 students. Now, that inaugural class is graduating. The 26 students have spent every school day since kindergarten: half their time is taught in Spanish, the other half in English. Half the students in the dual language program are native Spanish speakers.

“It was pretty hard to do at the beginning. But when I met my friends a bit more, I felt more comfortable speaking with them. And yeah, that helped me a lot to learn English,” Matias Segudo Lopera, one of the participants, said.

The other half of the students in the class are native speakers of other languages such as English. Either way, the journey of learning everything in two languages was not easy.

“It was a bit challenging, but I got really used to speaking Spanish because we learned everything and we learned it slowly,” Molly Babbitt, a dual language program participant, said.

Despite the hurdles, the students and district administrators are glad they launched the pilot program seven years ago because it’s the only public school in the metro area with a dual language program like this.

“We’re able to see the kids really just take on new opportunities, take on new ways they can really help themselves and overall help the world by having different experiences,” Jenna Pressley, Western Hills Elementary School principal, said.

This dual language program accepts about 26-28 students every school year. The principal says the program is also growing because there’s a wait list.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.