World Language Honor Society Welcomes New Members

On March 8, all language societies that are a part of the larger World Language Honor Society came together to induct new members in a celebration of language and culture. The languages that participated are German, Spanish, French, Latin, and American Sign Language.

+Spanish+teacher+Monica+Leiva-Moore+congratulates+newly+inducted+members+into+the+Spanish+Language+Honor+Society.+The+goal+of+this+induction+ceremony%2C+aside+from+celebrating+new+members%2C+is+the+celebration+of+the+cultures+and+traditions+that+are+integral+to+these+languages.

James Bowles

Spanish teacher Monica Leiva-Moore congratulates newly inducted members into the Spanish Language Honor Society. The goal of this induction ceremony, aside from celebrating new members, is the celebration of the cultures and traditions that are integral to these languages.

The combination of varying cultures, languages and traditions were on full display at the World Language Honor Societies (WLHS) induction ceremony on March 8. Celebration and representation, along with academic integrity and dedication, can be found within the French Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Latin Honor Society, German Honor Society, and American Sign Language Honor Society.

American Sign Language (ASL) teacher Elizabeth Bush guides the soon to be inducted members of the ASL Honors Society on how to sign their oath. Each honor society speaks, or in this case signs, their oath for the new members in the language of the society. ASL was the first language that inducted new members into its society. (James Bowles)

Spanish teacher Monica Leiva-Moore, who sponsors the Spanish Honor Society,  holds high expectations for her members. “The goal is to encourage the students to complete their language studies throughout the years in high school,” Leiva-Moore said. “To go all the way to AP would be an encouragement, [along with continuing] further on in college so they can become bilingual and bicultural global citizens.” 

Spanish Honor Society president senior Rohan Misra has a strong outlook for the future of the honor society, for both the members and the projects ahead. “Our honor society has been doing a great job; we’ve been killing it on the community service,” Misra said. “We have a lot of new initiatives coming up on the horizon that haven’t been released yet, but other than that our members are really engaged and love participating in the chapter. It’s an awesome time.”

The expectations, community and culture within WLHS are undoubtedly strong, and members hope  that the newly inducted members will maintain this cultural aptitude that their given honor societies are held to. German teacher Charles Reimert has high expectations for his students. “It takes dedication and diligence to reach the honor levels of languages, especially because they don’t need to take the honor levels for their diploma,” Reimert said. “It is a special student that continues on.”

Despite the unanimous respect and integrity displayed towards the varying honor societies, opinions on the induction ceremony procedure were unknown to new members.

The newly inducted German Honor Society members display their new certificates to the crowd. German teacher Charles Reimert stated he’s proud of the newly inducted members for how far they’ve come in. “It’s always a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the accomplishments of students in upper level languages,” Reimert said. “and it’s just a fun celebration.” (James Bowles)

Junior Leslie Champion was unsure about how the induction ceremony would proceed, given that there are multiple honor societies present versus only having one like during the National Honor Society induction ceremony. “I think it will be a little different because it’s [multiple] languages and it’s [all] at the same time, apparently,” Champion said. “I think it’s probably something new and it may take a little more time than anticipated, but it’ll work out.”

Senior Santiago Villegas holds conflicting opinions about the night. “I think it went well,” Villegas said. “I feel good about it because it is an honor to be in that society. Doing French as a class is one thing, but it’s totally different to be in the society and be a part of that.”

Other students, such as French Honor Society member senior Salma Lahbibi, found the ceremony to be a great experience compared to her virtual induction ceremony in quarantine. “They had the chance to go on stage. For mine, I was watching it on my phone,” Lahbibi said. “I feel really great inducting all of these inductees for the first time, since mine was over quarantine so we had a little [Google] meet, but I’m really happy they had this opportunity.”