Bloomfield student earns Diné bilingual seal, highlighting language preservation efforts

Lillyana Begay became only the second Bloomfield School District student ever to earn the Navajo Nation Seal of Bilingual Proficiency in Diné, a rare milestone that put one Bloomfield High School senior at the center of a larger push to keep the language alive in San Juan County.

Begay was one of 38 students from across San Juan County and the Navajo Nation who received the seal in April 2026. Julie Pierce, the Bloomfield district’s associate superintendent for federal programs, said the district’s only other recipient earned the seal in 2020, underscoring how unusual the achievement still is at Bloomfield High.

The seal is awarded to graduating seniors who can fluently read, write and speak Diné. The assessment is offered each spring by the Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education’s Office of Standards, Curriculum, and Assessment Development, making it one of the few formal measures that recognizes academic fluency in the language. The award was presented near the end of the school year, after weeks of waiting for students who had taken the exam.

Begay said she did not originally plan to pursue the seal. She decided to take the assessment after seeing other students recognized for the Spanish bilingual seal and because she was required to enroll in Navajo class. Her preparation started in the fall with help from her Navajo teacher, Thorielyia Curley, and her father, Nathaniel Begay.

Her mother, Tamara Lee-Begay, said Navajo is not the language spoken predominantly at home, a detail that makes Begay’s result especially notable for families trying to pass Diné to the next generation outside daily household use. Nathaniel Begay, who is fluent in Navajo, helped her study by giving her descriptive words she did not know. Curley practiced with her by holding up pictures for her to describe. Begay also recorded herself speaking and practiced in front of family members.

After taking the assessment, Begay waited two weeks for the result and said it was emotional when she learned she had passed. For local educators and language advocates, her success offers a measurable example of what preservation looks like on the ground: a student in Bloomfield mastering the reading, writing and speaking skills needed to earn formal recognition in Diné.

The stakes remain high across Diné Bikéyah. At a May 3, 2024 recognition event, Navajo education leaders said 12 students were honored that year for the seal. Acting Superintendent Roy Tracy warned then that the language could no longer be practiced by about 2060 if preservation efforts do not continue, while Vince James, chair of the Health, Education and Human Services Committee, said nearly two-thirds of people on the Navajo Nation currently speak the language fluently. Begay’s seal shows that the pipeline is still producing speakers, but also how much instruction, family support and persistence it takes to keep that number from shrinking.