Since 2007, Wakefield’s French Honors Society, or FHS, has participated and competed in the Wake County French Festival. This year, on Wednesday, March 16, the French Festival was held in downtown Raleigh at Moore Square Magnet Middle School. Nora Bordt, French teacher and FHS adviser, began preparing her students for the festival last year.

“My students have been preparing since August of last year,” said Bordt. “We knew what the categories were and we divided into groups on our French Immersion day in September where students began deciding what roles they want to play.”

The festival itself was put together by the head of the Foreign Languages Department of Wake County. Both middle schoolers and high schoolers from all over the county competed in the festival. In particular, there were 24 Wakefield students that attended the event.

Some of the categories students competed in included: drama, dance, music, poetry, spelling bee, and culture. Simran Bhatia, senior and President of FHS competed in the dance category. She described her role in the festival.

“I was a part of the dance group and I was responsible for overseeing them,” said Bhatia. “I choreographed my dance for that event and we each did a two minute dance.”

Students decided which category they wanted to be a part of and each FHS officer was divided accordingly; one officer per category. Each month, the officers and members met to work on their groups At the festival, each of the officers were responsible for the people in their group. For instance, Drew Begin, senior and Secretary of FHS, was responsible for and competed in the culture table.

“I competed in the culture table, which is probably the most broad category there is,” said Begin. “We set up our culture table presentation as if we were at an outdoor cafe in Paris. Really, the only rule was that we could not make food because it could’ve  influenced the judges’ decisions.”

Students and Bordt alike enjoyed the experience at the festival.

“As much as I love the sing along in French, which is lovely because there are 300-400 people singing in French, there’s something greater than that,” said Bordt. “I really enjoy my students watching other students speak French and realizing it doesn’t just happen in this classroom.”

This year, one of the French sing-along songs was a song from the motion picture Frozen and at the end of the festival, some of the Wake County French teachers performed a fun skit for students.

The French Festival was an opportunity for students from all over the county to collectively showcase their knowledge of the French language and culture.

“The purpose of the festival is for Wake County to integrate French into our lives and apply the knowledge we learn in  the classroom,” said Bhatia.

Many students genuinely enjoy the study of the French language for various reasons. Begin explained the personal significance French has on his life.

“French has always been important to me,” said Begin. “Many of the past generations in my family have spoken French. My grandpa is a French teacher in Maine and that is a big reason why I took French freshman year and continued it throughout high school.”

Overall, the importance of the festival is beyond attendance. Bordt expressed the significance of students being involved in the French culture.

“The festival allows students to see that French is alive in other places outside of the classroom,” said Bordt. “Students also see that there are other students who are passionate about French. I hope it encourages them to be passionate about their language study, too.”