(above) Italian Honor Society Inductees included Lauren Brenner, Abby Conklin, John Dazzo, Joshua Fox, Paul Harris, Lily Holston, Luke Jones, Joseph Larmore, Michael Marino, Roy McGowan, Maxwell Oross, and Derick Vega.
World Language Honor Societies Induction Ceremony
Submitted by Patrice Barth
On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, a total of 32 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 Derick Vega, who served as Master of Ceremonies, began the night by sharing his own experiences of being raised bilingual at home and then choosing to study a third language, Italian, in middle and high school. He then introduced various guest speakers of the evening. Junior, Matthew London, spoke from the heart about his positive experiences in his Chinese classes over the years and gave specific thanks to his teacher, Mrs. Li Salewski. Senior, Michaela Genty amused the audience with her humorous tales of traveling to France and speaking with the locals. She also credited her family’s French-Creole heritage as her inspiration for studying French. Senior, Kyle Isolda shared his reasons for studying Italian in middle and high school and spoke with delight over the exchanges he was able to have with his host family while participating in the district’s Italian exchange program. Finally, Senior, Aleezah Madraswalla, spoke with joy as she shared her earliest memories of learning Spanish in second grade and traveling to Mexico with her family. She attributed the world language curriculum for not just teaching her the Spanish language but for giving her the opportunity to explore and to appreciate the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.
The World Language Honor Society officers conducted the induction ceremonies for each language entirely in the target language. The officers included: Catherine Buren and William Robertson (Chinese), Carina Delcore and Michaela Genty (French), Antoinette Chango and Christina Gubernat (Italian), and Sarai Romero and Tara Wolman (Spanish).
Photos by SFPS Public Schools
(above) This year’s Chinese Honor Society Inductees were Justin Chan, Kaelie Chung, Juan Rojas, Ryan Eng, Margaret Lapolla, Evelyn Liang, Matthew London, Thomas Peeney and Myles Talmadge.
(above) Inducted into the Spanish Honor Society were Kayla Avila, Conor Feeney, Ava Gelling, Patrick Howard, Daniel Sicinski, and Zoe Wernsing.
(above) Inducted into the French Honor Society were Chloe Alce, Jessica Jimenez, Shruti Khandelwal, Chloe Rousseau, and Jamie Wirth.
