Club Spotlight: Latin and French Club
French Club
French club is run by Damian Musk, Gloria Kroodsma, and Sophia Risin! They meet every other week for “fun conversations about assorted topics related to the French culture and language, as well as occasionally practicing our speaking skills. According to Gloria Kroodsman, one of the French Club's coordinators, they meet every other week to watch and discuss French movies and videos, listen to music, learn about art and literature, discuss current events, and try some delicious recipes. So far, they have hosted a baking event with Pixel Chefs and a poetry event with the Literature Club. Meetings are “primarily conducted in English, students of all levels of French are welcome, from native speakers to those with no experience whatsoever.”
Latin Club
Victoria Ko and Ella Blanco lead the Latin club which is involved in a number of activities at OHS. Victoria started “studying Latin with OHS in 7th grade. I specifically chose Latin because so much of the English (and other languages) vocabulary stems from Latin roots.” As part of the OHS Latin program, she was able to travel to Italy where the group got to explore “architecture, floor, monuments, art, language, and much more.” The club does not require members to be taking Latin and meetings have included playing “‘Mafia’ but Cataline and Cicero style [and] our future plans include discussing cultural aspects of Latin and Classics, as well as playing more Latin games!”
I spoke with Peter Olmeda, a club member, about his experiences in the Latin club. “Latin Club overall is super fun! We do a lot of fun stuff and have a lot of discussion about (wait for it) Latin. What's really fun is the games we play; everything is Latin-themed, so we'll play Pictionary but we have to illustrate Latin words.” The experiences have led to an obsession with Latin memes including the “Latin Student Problems’ blog so now whenever someone says Latin is useless I send them Latin Student Problem 721.” Latin club has opportunities for students of any level to get involved with learning and to practice the language in a fun and engaging environment.
