TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
If you have a child in school, you know how important it is to stay connected with your student. Imagine now a language barrier, making it difficult or even impossible to keep up with what's happening in your child's school life.
Catalina Magnet High School has the largest number of refugee or immigrant students in any of schools in the Tucson Unified School District. With that comes many challenges, especially for parents hoping to stay up-to-date with what their kids are doing at a new school, in a new country.
New this year, hoping to connect cultures through a simple click, the school website utilizes service through Google to translate content into ten different languages.
Immigrant and refugee students make up a quarter of the 1,200 students at Catalina, so it is no surprise that language can be a barrier.
"Yeah, it's difficult for people to learn second language or third language," Shamam Hashim, a 16-year-old from Iraq said.
But it's not just hard for students.
"The biggest challenge we have is communicating with parents," said David Berry, the assistant principal at Catalina.
Berry says at least 45 languages are spoken by families with students at Catalina.
"Since a lot of our kids come from colonial countries, we may not have their language, but their family may also be conversant in French, they may also speak Russian," Berry said.
Another popular language: Hindi. Khatengra Sebedi and Sumitra Timsina, both from Nepal say their parents don't know English very well, but can speak Hindi.
"My dad, it helped him a lot to get connected with me and what kind of programs are going on at Catalina," Sebedi said.
The website provides essential information, from graduation requirements to school events and activities.
"For my parents, it helps a lot," Timsina said. "They were all excited, like 'Oh, now I can see what's going on with your school and everything.'"
"It's imperfect, but it's a step forward," Berry said. "We've never done this before."
Students say the new site is more than a tool for translation.
"I feel like I am in this school," Sebedi said. "I am a part of this school."
Students say it is a way of accepting and embracing diversity.
The multiple language website launched a couple months ago. The school says it has received positive feedback so far, and hopes to add more languages down the road.
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