Pictured from left: Kayla Yaing of Tewksbury Memorial High School, Abiral Thapa of Westford Academy, and Nathan Nguyen of Chelmsford High School.
by Jen Oemig
CHELMSFORD – The Chelmsford High School World Language Department, in conjunction with The Richelieu Club of Lowell, recently hosted a French Oratorical Contest for local high school students studying French.
The contest seeks to engender and encourage the study of the French language by inviting area high school students to participate for cash prizes.
The financial gifts are offered to students studying French with the hope that they will continue their studies in future years.
This year, Abiral Thapa of Westford Academy took first place, receiving a $400 cash prize, and will continue to the regional competition to be held at Rivier College in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Saturday, March 29.
Nathan Nguyen of Chelmsford High School placed second and Kayla Yaing of Tewksbury Memorial High School came in third; both received $200 cash prizes.
Danja Mahoney, the Department Coordinator of World Language and Cultural Exchanges at Chelmsford Public Schools, said the department has hosted the competition multiple times over the years.
“It was wonderful to see the level of French the students were able to present,” she said. “They were able to speak with such reflection and thoughtfulness about the environment.”
Cecile Provencher, who runs The Richelieu Club, said the contest has been a longstanding tradition that was established to encourage high school students’ continued use of the French language.
“I thought they did very good,” she said of this year’s contestants. “Some of them did better than I could do.”
The competition was held on Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the Career Center at Chelmsford High School.
Those who compete must present an oral presentation between 4-6 minutes in length on a particular topic.
For the contest this year, students were asked to respond to this question: “What have you observed and what do you think about how French-speaking countries are facing the challenges of climate change?
Contestants are judged on pronunciation, delivery, elocution and originality of their presentation.
