The French Club encouraged students to try new foods, learn about different cultures and have fun while doing it at “Francophone Night.”
The event was held for the first time last Thursday evening, April 19, in the Student Union Ballroom for any students interested. “Francophone Night” featured presentations about various French-speaking countries, as well as Louisiana.
“‘Francophone Night’ is important because we get to show our campus and community how relevant the French language is,” said Kayla Lott, treasurer of French Club. “We really want to focus on presenting the language of love in such a way that people will see that it is important and not just a program that should be cast aside. It’s exciting to see it all come together after so much preparation has gone into it.”
The night began with the serving of ethnic foods such as Saka-Saka from the Congo, Couscous from Morocco and Crepes from France.
The food was several students’ favorite aspect of “Francophone Night.” However, the suggestion was made to have more variety offered next year.  
“There was a lot of culture to be learned and a lot of students at Southeastern to represent it. So the opportunity to learn a little was great,” said Bradley Heath, a junior psychology major. “I would have liked to see a larger variety of foods served, particularly some of what was displayed in the presentations. The food they did have was excellent none the less.”
After guests filled up on new foods, officers of the French Club gave short presentations about the culture in Morocco, Martinique and La. Also presented was the culture and history of Ivory Coast by native international students, Ghislaine Scheers and Nelly Traore.
During the presentation of Ivory Coast, the two international students demonstrated the Coupé dé Calé, a native dance.
“I thought this event was a great opportunity to learn more about French culture. The food was great and the speakers were really interesting,” said Claire Salinas, a sophomore communications major. “Learning the dance was a great touch to the presentation.”
Following the presentations was a trivia game with questions designed to reiterate what was just learned as well as reward the students who paid attention. Little prizes were given such as shower gel, picture frames, chocolates and Parisian greeting cards.  
 While this was the first Francophone night ever held, the French Club hopes it will become a consistent annual event after a successful opening.
“I think the event went better than expected. We had a great turnout tonight. We would like to do it again next year,” said Zach Maurer, vice president of the French Club. “This is something we were just trying out to inspire people to learn about the French culture and La. We kept the advertising within the French club and French classes this year, but with such a good turnout we may extend the audience to the entire student body.”
For more information on joining the French Club contact Soliska Cheramie, president, at soliska.cheramie@selu.edu.