By Ella Hopkins-Gianotti – Staff Reporter

As the school year goes on, the French Club has been hosting some fun events at their meetings.

In November, the French Club recognized National French Week by coloring the flags of all the Francophone countries. Before break, they had a holiday party and a celebration of La Chandeleur/National Crêpe Day in France, combined with a Valentine’s Day party.

Now they are encouraging students to do Manie Musicale and recruiting others to join their club.

“The best part of the French Club is the people coming in since they’re the ones who make it all possible,” Senior French Club President Sarah Gutierrez said “Without the students who come into the French room after school, we would not have the club and we wouldn’t have this community of students interested in French culture.”

Many of the club’s activities have centered around movies and French food.

“The club and I have done different fun activities involving coloring, watching French movies, and eating snacks,” Gutierrez said. “For example, we just had our Valentine’s Day party in which our advisor, Dr. Evans, made delicious crepes for anyone who wanted and brought different other snacks to enjoy while watching a movie.” 

One of the most enjoyable recent celebrations was La Chandeleur.

“Recently we had a party to celebrate La Chandeleur, which is National crêpe Day in France,” Evans said. “The round warm yellow crêpe symbolizes the sun and the arrival of spring. Our party combined that holiday with Valentine’s Day, and we enjoyed making Valentines in French, making and eating crêpes, eating chocolate, and watching a short animated French film.” 

Both the French Club and the classes ask everyone to contribute to Manie Musicale, located on the wall to the right of Evans’s room (214). Maine Musicale is inspired by March Madness but is instead a French song competition, the competitors this year are from over 15 different French-speaking countries.

“Check out the giant bracket and the flags and scan the QR codes for the playlist, where students listen to and vote on French-language songs in a bracket-style tournament,” Evans said. “It’s a fun way to engage students with Francophone music, improve their listening skills, and expose them to different cultures.”

Senior French Club Vice President Reilly Hungerford has enjoyed all of the French Club activities this year.

“Three of the best things that have happened that I think have happened are the crepe party, the increase in membership, and how we’ve started to fundraise,” Hungerford said.

Club members still have many goals they would like to reach before the end of the year.

“The plan is that later on whether it is next year or other years students can make bigger events or even possible field trips,” Gutierrez said. “The goal for the club for the rest of the year is to gain better leadership for next year since we have a lot of seniors and have more underclassmen join.”

Junior Soleil Roberts became a member of the French Club last year and this September and became an official officer of the French Club after only attending for one year prior. 

“I’ve enjoyed being an officer,” Roberts said. “It’s nice to be a part of a club in a higher way, especially the French Club. It is so fun, and the club members are amazing and so smart and talented, and being a part of what makes it happen is amazing.”

Even though it seems that the French Club has celebrated many holidays in the time they have spent together, they are not done with celebrations yet.

“Coming up this spring we will be celebrating Mardi Gras/Carnival by making masks, April Fools Day (where the tradition is to put paper fish on people’s backs and joke around with your friends), and hopefully going outside for a picnic with traditional French foods when spring finally arrives,” Evans said.

To find out more information about the French Club, students can email any of the officers or Dr. Evans. Students can also follow the JLHS French Club Instagram and join the Google Classroom for more information.