For the past few weeks an extra briefing has been added to the morning announcements, this one is a call to join Bowie’s French Honor Society, a program at Bowie that after two years off, is back.

The French program itself is small and run by French teacher Rachel Preston, who has taken on the task of being the teacher sponsor for the program.

“It’s a student organization, there really needs to be students who are interested in running it,” Preston said. “So I have tried several since 2021.”

With a lack of student interest and a year of online school, Preston has found it difficult to start the program up again, regardless, she believes the it could become a more permanent fixture at Bowie.

“At the moment, we’re only 10 or 15 students, we’re such a small program,” Preston said. “I imagine there’s some more out there that we just haven’t had a chance to recruit yet.”

The size of the program allows for more room to expand on the level of activities and projects they host. The students help plan activities such as community service projects and the sponsor helps facilitate their ideas.

“The French part is a limiting factor but once we figure out the connection we can give back however we see fit. So whatever people are passionate about, we can probably do it if they’re willing to help, plan or implement that project,” Preston said.

Although student interest has been an issue in the past, this year more than enough are interested and ready to go. There are presidents responsible for leading the 10-15 members.

French Honor Society president senior Brooke Pesses knows that the program will aid her in her ability to grow her speaking skills.

“I wanted to join French Honor Society because I am not currently in a French class,” Pesses said. “I wanted to keep up on my French knowledge.”

The French Honor Society works closely with other organizations at Bowie such as the Spanish Honor Society. This fosters an environment for people interested in not only focusing on French but linguistic culture as well.

“I love how they work with the Spanish Honor Society,” senior Avery Mulig said. “It completes community volunteering and service projects around Bowie.”

Similar to Pesses, Mulig has found community within Bowie’s French program. Mulig who took French throughout middle and high school is not currently enrolled in a French class.

“My favorite part about the French Honor Society is spending time with some of my classmates and friends,” Pesses said. “French has made an impact on my time at Bowie because I am able to be part of a smaller group.”

The group explores French culture and this community allows a way for students to meet people within their same academic level.

“French has helped with my memorization,” Mulig said. “With the extensive amount of vocabulary quizzes we took, I was able to adopt proper study habits and improve my memorization skills.”

It is not required that students are currently enrolled in a French class to join the group, they just need certain grades and a desire to participate.

“You have to have at least an A minus, a 90 or above in the last three semesters in French,” Preston said. “You don’t have three semesters of French until you get to the end of French two.”

Along with the other two honor societies hosted at Bowie, French Honor Society allows for students to have a chord at graduation if hour requirements are met. 

“We can do more or less anything that students here in French are passionate about,” Preston said.