Congratulations, Spring Class of 2023!

On July 29th, Found in Translation held the program celebration for our most recent class of medical interpreters – the Spring Class of 2023! The Spring Class of 2023 began in late March, and ran through the summer. This was Found in Translation’s fourth training to take place primarily on Zoom, however this class had many opportunities to gather together in person over the course of the program for professional development sessions and community building activities.

Having completed the certificate training, the women of our Spring Class of 2023 are now ready to take the next step in their careers and begin working as professional interpreters. Once again, the formal Program Celebration event was held on Zoom – making it possible for friends and family (even in other countries!) to tune in from anywhere to join the festivities and wish their new graduates well. An informal in-person gathering for the Spring Class of 2023, their alumnae peers, and newly accepted students for our Fall 2023 class is planned for later this month. This celebration also featured a special guest speaker – Jennifer Vivar Wong, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Language and Communications Access for the City of Boston. Jennifer spoke about the importance of culturally competent interpretation in Boston and the vital role that interpreters play.

Watch the full event recording here:

Who are our recent graduates, the 28 members of the Spring Class of 2023?

• Collectively, our newest graduates represent 13 different countries of origin
• This class trained interpreters in 8 different language groups: Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Dari, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish
• Graduates range in age from 26 to 54, and the average age of this class is 38
• All are passionate, resourceful, determined and community-oriented!

We are so proud of each and every one of our newest alumnae! Thank you to everyone in our community who have supported (and will continue to support) these women as they progress in their professional journeys and provide critical language access at a time when it is needed more than ever. Special thanks to our partners Dress for Success – Boston, Ulta Beauty, Sitters for Scholars, Women’s Money Matters, Feda Eid, Cynthia Roat, and all our volunteer mentors and guest speakers for your contributions of time, resources and expertise in support of this class. 

Transcript of the Spring Class of 2023 Graduate Speech by Isabel Neves:

My name is Isabel Neves, and I am honored to speak on behalf of the Found in Translation graduating class, and on behalf of women, immigrants, and bilingual speakers. In the past four months, we have come together from different communities and have become a Found in Translation family. Before I learned about Found in Translation, I had been searching for an interpreting program for a while. None of them seemed to match what I was looking for, which was learning, community and support. See, when I came to the United States in my early 20s, I had to face more than a language barrier. I had to ask a few friends that I had to take a day off work to accompany me to my appointments to interpret. That experience has stayed with me and inspired me to look for an interpreting program that will enable me to provide the support I needed years ago and to help people have the freedom I did not.

Then I came across Found in Translation’s program that went above and beyond simply teaching interpreting. Among other things, it taught us how to give patients communicative autonomy. In the beginning of the training, I felt intimidated by expectations and standards. To this day I recall one word our training manager, Bindiya, repeated many times in our orientation – rigorous. And it has been rigorous, stressful and challenging – but in a positive way. If you had told me four months ago that I would be navigating computer systems, typing and using CANVAS, I would have never believed you. But here I am today, having completed 140 hours of medical interpreter training. 

Spring Class of 2023 – congratulations on all your hard work in the program that is much more than a class. We became very close in our classes, study groups, and day-to-day discussions. As you move on in your careers and lives, I want you to remember that at Found in Translation, we are family, and you have sisters here. We have supported each other throughout this journey, and we will continue to be here as each other’s support system. I wish you happiness and success in all that you do.

Congratulations Found in Translations Spring Class of 2023 – we did it! Let’s go out there and take over the world of interpreting!