For the first time elite Swarthmore College will provide simultaneous Spanish translation during this year’s baccalaureate address and commencement ceremony.
The college of 1,500 students is considered one of the top liberal arts private colleges in the nation and is often identified as a ‘little Ivy’ school. Approximately 11 percent of its students are Hispanic and there will be 366 graduates at this year’s commencement. Spanish Professor Aurora Camacho de Schmidt will be doing the translating
Commencement will be held this Sunday and this ceremony in many ways is pioneering. Institutions with more than 25 percent Latino enrollment don’t even appear to offer this service for their graduates.
Overall, it is rare to have commencement ceremonies simultaneously translated, some hold separate ceremonies other hold bilingual events - therefore Swarthmore is being heralded by different Latino advocacy organizations.
