On Thursday, May 21, 2026, the community of the Berkeley High School Multilingual Program (MLP) gathered at Oxford Elementary School for their graduation. May and June are filled with graduation events for small schools, ethnic groups, and other programs. However, the MLP graduation is unique, as it highlights graduates from MLP — not all of whom are seniors — who have reached a level of English proficiency sufficient for their entrance into “mainstream classes.”
Many of the students in the program believe they will return to it as they navigate the rest of high school. “I’ll still be in contact with the program. They helped me a lot, and so I’m very grateful to them,” BHS junior Aisanda Hidalgo Iglesias said, who is graduating from the program’s final level, English Language Development 4 (ELD 4.)
The night was guided by two students: Iglesias and BHS sophomore Fatima Justo Hermenegildo, who has not yet graduated from the program. “I feel really happy for (the graduates) because it’s a really big thing for us to recognize that we know how to speak English well,” Justo Hermenegildo said.
The program featured heartwarming speeches from BHS sophomore Sebastian Matias Hidalgo Peña and senior Jeffrey Gadiel Flores Escalante. Hidalgo Peña thanked the MLP program profusely. “The reason why I’m talking here is MLP,” Hidalgo Peña said in his speech.
Flores Escalante delivered his speech in Spanish, but he repeated it in English after. He spoke movingly of pride, family, and accomplishment gained from the program.
Brandalyn Estefania Martin Aguilar, who graduated ELD 4 that night, said, “It’s been a long journey since I came to the United States. When I started Berkeley High I was put in MLP … now I’m graduating and I feel proud of myself.”