Oluwatomisin Falako

Spanish Honors Society students recite the oath to become officially inducted into the society. The oath was carefully written by Foreign Language Department Chair Maritzia Sloan. “I want the students to demonstrate that they are connecting to the language and they’re using it directly with the Spanish culture,” Sloan said. “That’s another bridge that I’m trying to build between the students.”

Spanish Honors Society along with German, French and Latin, held the annual induction ceremony Oct. 11 to welcome new members. The ceremony was held at 6 p.m. inside the Performing Arts Center, and consisted of speeches from the teacher sponsors of each language honor society, student  leaders and a guest speaker. 

This was the 13th annual induction, with the first induction being held over 10 years ago when the only foreign language honors society was Spanish.
“I really like how we were the pioneers,” Maritzia Sloan, Foreign Language Department Chair said. “Because we had a society, other languages followed our path.”

Although the induction is organized by the foreign language department staff, the ceremony would not be possible without the efforts of the student leaders. 

“What I like about the ceremony is that students lead it,” Sloan said. “We always want to highlight them, because they are the motor of the society.”

Being a member of a foreign language honors society requires more than just signing up. They are national wide organizations and certain levels of proficiency are required to join.

“They have to have a certain amount of semesters in the world language,” Sloan said. “Since a lot of our students come here from the middle school, they already meet some of the requirements for being in a language. This is usually six semesters of Spanish, and they have to have a 90% average per semester.”

A large part of being a member of Spanish Honors Society is giving back to your community. Spanish Honors Society has a large focus on helping the community and connecting it back to Spanish culture. 

“We have celebrated birthdays for little [children],” Sloan said. “We sometimes go and bake cookies with them. We also go in color and do things with different students.”

Committing to a foreign language honors society is a large commitment that comes from a desire to further understand the culture. 

“I really don’t like when the student is using the Spanish Honor Society just to put something else on their resume,” Sloan said. “I want them to do something because they want to be involved with Spanish culture, and they want to do volunteer work.”

The foreign language honors societies all have their own skills and qualities that they value, but they share the desire for students to be able to use their language skills in society. 

“The most important skill is to use the language so that the students can go and practice outside the classroom,” Sloan said.