MVRHS students praised for ‘gracious and generous actions’

By
Eunki Seonwoo
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4
Students at MVRHS are being praised for helping migrants when they arrived on Island unexpectedly on Sept. 14. — Abigail Rosen

Updated 11/9

College Board executives commended AP Spanish students from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) for their role in helping the migrants who arrived on the Island in September, in what’s been called a “political stunt” orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

During the MVRHS committee meeting on Monday evening, committee chair Robert Lionette shared that the school received “a letter of appreciation” signed by College Board CEO David Coleman and College Board senior vice president of AP and instruction Trevor Packer. A copy of the letter is available at https://bit.ly/3teP0mD.  

“One of the vice presidents of the College Boards came to visit our pilot program for the AP African American studies class, and they also came to visit our AP Spanish class, and wrote a lovely letter that the students each got a copy of,” MVRHS Principal Sara Dingledy said. “It’s just a nice celebration of the work that group of students did.” 

Dingledy added that the students “jumped in” to help translate for the migrants “without any endeavor to get accolades.” 

“The gracious and generous actions you took to serve the men, women, and children who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard last month are a credit to your community. By putting hard-earned knowledge to work on behalf of others, by using your skills for the benefit of those in need and for the betterment of the wider community, you and your classmates demonstrated the fundamental purpose of an education. You had the wisdom to recognize a need, the capacity to be truly helpful, and the confidence to take action in a challenging moment,” the letter read. 

Lionette said this letter was a “testament to students and staff.” Dingledy said other students who were not in AP Spanish also helped the migrants by gathering materials for them. 

In a previous statement, Dingledy complimented the MVRHS community for stepping up when the occasion arose.

Martha’s Vineyard Superintendent Richie Smith said there are “a lot of great things going on” at MVRHS, and he was “very proud of the students.” 

“This spearheaded action when the migrants came, all of the comments coming out of the high school, in the school system, just accentuated the community. It hasn’t been anything about political affiliation or ideology, it’s been about supporting people, supporting kids when they come,” Smith said. “The reaction would make and should make us proud to highlight our school, to highlight our community.”

Updated with a new link to the letter. 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. I’m glad the students are being appreciated for all their time. They were essential to helping the process, and made our Venezuelan guests feel valued and welcomed. They truly displayed Vineyard Spirit!

  2. The Spanish students practical use of the language was not only useful to calming the Venezuelans fear of being in a strange place, but an excellent way to put what they’ve learned to good use building linguistic confidence for the students. I hope these students will include their experience in their college application essays. They deserve to be recognized for “building bridges” with others, something one doesn’t see much of these days.

  3. Students, young people, are often excluded from the recognition they deserve. This is certainly an act of compassion and is one if the reasons we educate ourselves.

    Many kudos to the students and school for the humane gesture.

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