Southeastern will be hosting the 30th annual Foreign Language Festival all day on Tues. March 27 in the War Memorial Student Union. The festival is a competition that brings over three hundred high school students from southeast Louisiana together to compete in French and Spanish.
“They come to compete in prose, poetry, speech, drama and music,” said Dr. Luz Escobar, a professor of Spanish and the coordinator of the event. “It’s the milestone this year. I’ve been running it since I took over the 18th festival. That’s my passion, running the festival. I hope it goes on for thirty more years, even when I’m not here.”
In the past, the festival was held in the University Center. Now it is held in the Student Union so that the high school students can see more of campus and have access to the Lion’s Den, Cayman Cafe and the bookstore.
“Normally we know the students coming to compete are the best language students in their schools so we try to recruit them,” said Escobar. “We have the Office of Admissions working very closely with me during the festival. They give the students information, and they give the students and teachers and some parents campus tours.”
Escobar said that the high school students enjoy seeing the dorms and the cafeteria during their visit, and they especially like seeing the campus bustling with Southeastern students.
“Their opinion in general is that the campus is very nice,” said Escobar. “The people really like the campus and the parents really like that it’s a smaller campus, not a 40,000 student campus. The mission is to promote and recruit our language students.”
Southeastern students enrolled in foreign languages volunteer to help set-up and also to recruit to the students while they wait for their competition.
“Students get exposed because they volunteer to work as ambassadors,” said Escobar. “They welcome the students and direct them. They are also exposed because the most advanced students are selected as judges. Normally the faculty recommend the four or five best or more fluent French and Spanish students for judging.”
All of the high school students who attend receive participation certificates, and students who place receive dictionaries and cultural books donated by John Wiley and Sons. They also award movies in French and Spanish and software for learning these languages.
Those students who place first in each category win all of these and a trophy. One overall winner in each language receives a special prize.
“The main prize is the French scholarship in Belgium,” said Escobar. “They get an award to go to Europe for one month in the summer to study French. The Spanish main, big prize for the best Spanish student is a cruise to Mexico for two people.”
Campus Activities Board, the Center for Faculty Excellence, the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs and Auxiliary Services all help to make the Foreign Language Festival a success. KSLU also provides music and entertainment in the Student Union during the festival.
Registration to compete in this event closed on Feb. 29. Any Southeastern students who are interested in helping with the Foreign Language Festival can sign-up with their French or Spanish professors or email [email protected] for more information.