On Wednesday, November 14, 2018, a total of 59 Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School students were inducted into their respective world language honor societies during a ceremony replete with pomp and circumstance. Flag-bearing officers led their inductees into the auditorium as cultural music played. Senior Sophia Iacona, who served as Master of Ceremonies, introduced the various guest speakers of the evening.
Senior, Gianna Calligy, representing the Chinese program, talked about breaking through her language learning plateau by putting her language skills to use when ordering Chinese dinner for her family. She also shared that her Mandarin class is often the highlight of her stressful days in school and is thankful for the small, tight-knit learning community that her teacher, Mrs. Salewski, has provided.
In her speech, Senior, Sophia Iacona addressed her personal journey with learning French over the year. She thanked her teachers and classmates for always providing meaningful classroom discussions, interesting cultural lessons and providing an environment of French immersion on a daily basis. She spoke with passion about how her experiences as a host family to a French exchange student and her own visit to France as a junior have transformed her language abilities and love for everything “French.” She looks forward to hosting another exchange student this year and traveling to France once again.
Rachella Carlino spoke about the joy she experienced when traveling to Italy after studying Italian for a few years. Because of her experiences in the classroom she was proudly able to communicate with the locals. She congratulated this year’s Italian inductees and encouraged them all to continue their studies in Italian language and culture.
The last speaker of the evening, Brent Mankin, is a current Senior in the Spanish program at SPFHS. Brent spoke about how a family trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina allowed him to apply his years of studying Spanish in the classroom to real world situations. In just a short amount of time he felt comfortable ordering food, following directions and asking questions while on their tour of Iguazu Falls. In his speech he encouraged this year’s inductees to take advantage of every resource and guidance the World Language department has to offer. He urged students to take every opportunity in class to participate and to use language to communicate as best as possible. Brent ended his speech by saying, “We are living in a time where cultural division is sadly commonplace; yet, language has the ability to unify people across borders, and you represent the best of this district’s Spanish speakers.”
Representatives of each language program conducted the induction ceremonies for each language entirely in the target language. These representatives included: Robert Leonardo (Chiese), Isaac Wong (Chinese), Tierra Biussereth (French), Rachel Tang (French), Sara Barshap (Italian), Isabella Verga (Italian), Michael Dieu (Spanish), and Dominick Lamastra (Spanish).
Photos by Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools
(above) Catherine Buren, Jake Hahn, Christopher Tsuchiya, William Robertson, Justin Verceles, Danielle Vuono, Chloe Yang, Keri Yang, Samantha Yip, and Julia Yu.
(above) Josephine Cerino, Carina DelCore, Michaela Genty, Vanessa Handy, Maria Schmidt, Meghan Taylor, and Juliet Trifiro.
(above) Antoinette Chango, Sarah Dill, Carly Dvorin, L. Gettler, Mason Glod, Christina Gubernat, Kyle Isolda, Lauren Kieltyka, Nicholas LaFerrara, Valeria Macchini, Amy Magrino, Lindsey Porchetta, Carly Spellman.
(above) Connor Alchus, Persis Baah, Alexa Chan, Katherine Chouinard, Jordan Clement, Nicole DeFrancesco, Sophie Drapkin, Jessica Eggert, Jennifer Fleck, Jessica Friebely, Jada Gomillion, Emelyne Johns, Nicole Kenny, Aleezah Madraswalla, Clara Masback, James McNichol, Athena Postlewait, Sophie Pritchett, Sarah Rata, Sarai Romero, Cheryl Schneider, Olivia Shih, Brandon Weinberg, Jovi Williams, Morgan Wilson, Elena Wollman, Tara Wolman, Kelly Zimmerman, Rachel Zucker
