Local French high school teachers teamed up with Washburn faculty who also teach French to plan the third annual high school retreat for students studying French from three local high schools.

On Thursday Feb. 12, High School Retreat was held in the Shawnee room of the Memorial Union with high school students of three Topeka public schools. This program started with the poetry recital.

Perriguey–Keene, lecturer in French and Spanish and one of the organizers of this event, said Valentine’s Day inspired the , theme of love. Helene Perriguey-Keene also mentioned the main goal of organizing the event.

“This retreat is all about bringing French to life through poetry, skits and performance, giving students confidence, taste of university, a chance to imagine their future here while connecting our department and local schools in a fun, creative way,” Perriguey-Keene said. 

Perriguey-Keene described the event as beginning with a poetry recital and noted that this is something new for the U.S., an effort to try something they had never done before.

Jevica Ngonda, junior finance major and one of the judges in the poem recital, mentioned that the poetry recital performance was really good. Ngonda shared her feelings about today’s event. 

“I was really glad to be here and to be able to attend this event,” Ngonda said. “Because as a native French speaker, it was great to hear and to see a lot of new learners and connect with other people who speak French, because I don’t know many of them here in Topeka.” 

Lisa Frakes, French teacher at Highland Park High school, shared that the most exciting part was learning a poem as the students had to learn a poem and be able to present that poem to some judges. She said it was fun to interact with them as they were in the learning process. She also gives some thoughts regarding this event.

“It’s a great opportunity for my kids to interact with French-speaking students from other schools,” Frakes said. “It’s great to be on a college campus. It’s great to just spend a whole day speaking French and hearing it all the time, instead of just me speaking to them, but hearing it from other people, too.”

Britta Mueller, French teacher at Topeka High, was super excited about this event as her  students got to meet French speakers who live in Topeka. She also shared her thoughts on how language shapes the way we see the world.

“I think that it lets us connect to other cultures. It lets us understand that the world is bigger than just us,” Mueller said. “It’s bigger than Topeka and bigger than Kansas and bigger than the United States. And I think that’s really, really important.” 

Mueller also discussed the one misconception students often have about the French class. 

“I think they think that not many people speak French and I think that that’s not true at all,” Mueller said. “I’ve run into people in Topeka that are from French speaking countries that aren’t France. Over 50% of French speakers have come from Africa and now the African continent. So I think it’s important for people to see that French is a lot bigger than just France or Europe spoken all over the world.”

Regina Peszat, French teacher at Topeka West, described what she hoped the students gain from attending today.

“I hope it strengthens their self confidence and gives them a chance to meet students from the other two high schools and to see the opportunities at Washburn,” Peszat said. 

Courtney Sullivan, professor of modern languages, said that this is the third French-related event that happened at Washburn. 

In addition to the poetry recital, the event featured theater performances, the grand dictation competition, making Valentine’s Day cards and performances of French music. Students also received awards and participation certificates to recognize their efforts and achievements.

Edited by Arohi Rai and Anushma Dahal