The societies honor students especially interested in either French, Spanish, or Chinese.

Students studying French, Spanish, and Chinese were honored in the auditorium for their outstanding work in languages on April 13. Gathered with family and friends, the students were inducted into their respective language honor society, celebrating years of diligence towards the study of fluency in a new language.

Language honors society is offered to all students at Barstow who have shown continued interest in the study of language and have applied themselves to learning the language. In many high schools across the country, students participate in different chapters of language honors society and all share the similar goals of promoting language and culture, and gaining a global perspective.

There are three language societies recognized at Barstow: Société Honoraire de Français, The National Chinese Honor Society, and Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica.

Barstow has always loved its traditions, and incorporates them throughout the school year to remember and honor years of history. For example, Barstow hosts an annual Tree Day, a tradition where kindergarten students and “lifer” seniors (students who have been here since Kindergarten) plant trees together, where they will soon be introduced into the Barstow apple orchard.

Additionally, tradition becomes even more important at the end of the year with graduation, commencement, and baccalaureate. From the location of the ceremonies to the speakers and even to what the seniors wear, tradition comes into play.

The language induction ceremony this year was no different, but Profe Amanda Marvin, Mme. Anne Hyvrard, and Mr. Chuck Payne took the traditions that are important to the induction and added their own personal flair.

Students in Spanish 4 or higher, French 3 or higher, and Chinese 3 or higher have the opportunity to be inducted if they take honors classes, then they must complete a thorough application to be considered for admission into the society.

For French students, Mme. Hyvrard required a 1-2 minute video detailing why they would be a good fit for the honors program. The participants also wrote a one page paper to accomplish the same task as the video, but also demonstrate their fluency in the language through writing. Students are also required to submit schoolwork from their class, and achieve a 4.0.

Spanish students were to do something similar, submitting both a video and a previously written work to be looked over by Profe Marvin, and other students already inducted into the honor society. Additionally, students must hae kept a grade above a B+ for the last six quarters of taking a Spanish class.

Chinese poses a unique set of challenges, so students simply submit a video of them reading a children’s book or other written work in Chinese. They then wrote an introduction about themselves, and explained why they thought they should be inducted, in English. Additionally, the Chinese students submitted their transcript to the organization.

Michael Yagan ‘24, a 2022 National Chinese Honors Society inductee, described his decision to apply: “I’ve been working hard, so I was eligible and decided to apply.” He continued, saying that the application process was a learning experience itself, “We needed to submit written words in Chinese, and our movie script was what I submitted. I had to memorize the script and learned a lot of new words in the process,” he explained.

All of the students must also attend their respective language clubs (French Club, Spanish Club, and Chinese Club) to keep their place in the program. These clubs, however, are for everyone, so even non-honor society members can enjoy learning about language, culture, and food through the clubs.

This year, many students were inducted. Profe Marvin started the ceremony. She read a Nelson Mandela quote that exemplifies the importance of learning other languages, and applauded all of the students for their hard work. Next, she explained that most of the ceremony would be in the three different languages, so parents would get just a taste of their children’s experiences for the past years of their lives.

First, Spanish representatives Avisha Pandey ‘22 and Brooke Dryden ‘22 read a fragment from the poem “No Te Rindas” by Mario Bendettu. The stanzas, “lines” represented the students, and how their work translated into success. Once the piece was read, Pandey called each individual member to the stage to accept their award. This year, Niki Adma ‘22, Gillian Knaebel ‘22, Grayson Martin ‘22, Rosemary Warren ‘22, Sina Asheghalishahi ‘23, Sophie Brous ‘23, George Colombo ‘23, Mary Colombo ‘23, Gus Ketchell ‘23, JP Moore ‘23, Charlotte Park ‘23, Anisha Reiland ‘23, Aishi Sethi ‘23, Maggie Topass ‘23, and Param Vora ‘23 were inducted. The new members stood in a line on stage and blew out a candle, then walking off to the song “La vida es un carnaval” by Victor Roberto Daniel and Celia Cruz.

Next, members of the French Honor Society read an excerpt from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous novella, The Little Prince. Chad Luetje ‘22 and Ahna Chang ‘23 finished reading the excerpt, and then called the inductees to the stage. This year, Brett Gieras ‘23, Izzy Parr ‘24, Brenna White ‘24, Raj Fanswala ‘24, Daniel John ‘24, and Maggie Topass ‘23, were inducted. The inductees circled around the candle in the center podium and read their oath. All of the inductees went back to their seats to the tune of the somber, yet nostalgic “Sous le ciel de Paris” by Hubert Giraud and Jean Dréjac.

Finally, the Chinese representatives, Divya Dendi ‘22, Evan Doskey ‘23, and Allison Brodrick ‘23, read a saying from Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu. Similar to both of the previous ceremonies, the inductees lit their own candles from a large candle at the center of the stage. The new members include Anders Hwang ‘23, Genevieve Hyatt ‘23, Kimberly Nguyen ‘23, Zoey Hrabe ‘24, Connor Lucido ‘24, Maxwell Moore ‘24, Maya Theobald ‘24, and Michael Yagan ‘24. Once they read their oath, the new members blew out their candles. One small difference, though, was that the students also sang “Kan Guo Lai” by Richie Jen, as they walked off stage to meet their friends and family.

Finally, the representatives each bid the new inductees their last “Felicitaciones,” or Congratulations, to the tune of Juanes’s “A Dios Le Pido.”

Directly after the ceremony, inductees, family members, and friends gathered in the Upper School Commons for a short reception to celebrate the new members. Parents immediately swarmed the inductees for pictures, and everyone enjoyed the wide variety of snacks.

Congratulations to all of our new language honor society members!