Recognizing the diversity of culture in Orem with its active Latino community, the city has aspired to help residents be inclusive in all aspects of the city — and that now means the city’s webpage too.

The Spanish translation students of professor Devin Gilbert at Utah Valley University have just completed translating the webpages on orem.org for the top 10 most-requested services. The 28 students split into small groups to get the pages translated over a two-week period.

“Professor Gilbert worked closely with each group to ensure that the translations were professional and correct,” said Pete Wolfley, communications and innovations manager. “The City of Orem also has a Spanish translation review committee with several heritage Spanish speakers to review the translations and offer feedback to the students and make any necessary corrections.

The Spanish resources can be accessed at orem.org/espanol.

“It is crucial for all residents to have the information they need in the format and language that is most understandable for them,” said Kena Mathews, community resources manager.

“Utah Valley University puts a huge emphasis on experiential learning and we have had several student groups perform valuable work and studies for the City of Orem. They have helped us with strategic marketing for our Recreation department, building a parks resource guide complete with pictures of all 22 parks in Orem, and now this effort to translate the most important areas of our website into Spanish,” Wolfley said.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Utah Valley University to make this possible for the Hispanic community of Orem,” said Emma Hoole, culture and belonging officer at UVU. “I came into contact with Devin at a networking event at UVU that was specifically held to help employers connect with professors to start student projects. I brought up that we wanted to translate some web pages of ours into Spanish and he jumped on it. It was shortly after that when Pete Wolfley and I were able to be in his classroom setting up students to start translating.”

“I appreciate all that Utah Valley University does to help their students have experiences such as this. What a valuable opportunity for them to make a difference and get real-life experience. And from the employer’s side, it is unbelievably helpful. There is no possible way this could have been done without the students’ help,” Hoole added.

“Working with professor Devin Gilbert and his students has enabled us to expand the reach of our city services,” Wofley said.

The 2020 census reported that 17% of Orem’s population is Hispanic or Latino.

“Getting these web pages translated into Spanish is a great first step in serving our community better,” Wolfley added. “We plan to continue working with professor Gilbert and his students to make even more resources available in the future.”

Orem’s partnership with UVU continues to pay dividends for the city and its residents.

“We are truly blessed to have such a great university right here in Orem that is willing to collaborate with us on important community initiatives,” Wolfley added.

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