It’s difficult to have a good conversation if two people don’t speak the same language. And good conversations are what Family Advocacy Days are all about. At the recent Family Advocacy Days hosted by the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, good conversations were everywhere, thanks to the help of dozens of their students.

More than 95 of the district’s bi-lingual high school students served as translators during the two days of conversations, helping non-English speaking parents to communicate with their child’s advocate. The student translators traveled to 32 of the district’s schools, coordinating conversations for more than 600 groups of parents and students. This is the third year the district has used student translators to help with Family Advocate System (FAS) conversations, and according to Lindsey Schneider, Program Manager for FAS, the coordinated effort was well received by teachers, parents, administrators and students.

“The feedback we have gotten from principals has been fantastic,” Schneider said. “They thought it was great. They were very excited that they had a need and that their need was being met using our own students.”

The translators averaged about 10 hours of work each, over a two-day period, and Schneider said the experience for them was empowering.
“Some of the kids normally won’t even admit that they’re bilingual, but this gave them a real opportunity to shine and a real reason to use this valuable skill they have in a meaningful way,” Schneider explained.
This year, PREP-KC added to the student experience by providing funds for each student translator to receive an $80.00 gift card to The Legends at Village West Shopping Center.
The addition of the gift card to the translator experience helped students see their bi-lingual skills as not just helpful but a real job asset, too. “We wanted them to feel more like a valued employee,” Schneider said.