Mercy French Honor Society candidates and members have done their French homework all year and worked on events such as Immersion Day and the Valentine’s Day bake sale. If they were a candidate, they also presented a French cooking project in French that they had cooked themselves. All this hard work and effort was rewarded this week at the FHS Induction Banquet.

Held at St. Mary’s Cultural Center, the room was beautiful decorated with third year student’s French fashion projects and the candidate’s cooking projects. Candidates and members laughed and chatted with family and friends as they enjoyed a multi-course French meal that featured dishes such as ratatouille, chicken, green beans, quiche, and a delicious French mousse as Edith Piaf’s La vie en rose played in the background.

After dinner, the candle-lighting ceremony took place. Candidates were arranged in a circle with members on the outside of them. The outer circle’s candles were lit, and the members proceeded to then light the candidates’ candles with theirs until all of them were lit as they stated the member pledge. After the ceremony, all the awards and honors of the year were announced. Katherine Rizik was awarded Member of the Year, and several seniors received honors.

After the low attendance of last year’s banquet, the FHS advisor Ms. Joyce Campbell was reluctant to have another one. After seeing the large student support for a banquet, she agreed with the stipulation of mandatory attendance. For many members, this banquet that almost didn’t happen was a smashing success.

“It felt nice to receive recognition after all the hard work we did on the French cooking projects,” sophomore Julia Kirby said.