The Spanish and French honors societies are clubs at Center Grove that do activities aimed towards learning a language and connecting to others that are learning it. They can be educational and fun, but a student can’t simply join the club.

“Yes I would [recommend joining], but it is only by invitation,” Madame McClellan, club sponsor of French National Honors Society, said. “Only students who have reached a certain level of the language can be invited to join.”

The French and Spanish Honors Societies provide students opportunities to learn about the culture and languages of their respective countries as well as to meet new people.

“The main purpose of the language honors societies is to enrich students that show exceptional skill in the language that they’re taking and hone more skills than they would be able to in class, and it’s also to spread, for us [French Honors Society], francophone culture throughout the school and our community,” senior Signe Ring, president of the French Honors Society, said.

The honors societies are not purely academic though. The language honors societies also help students to connect to others who are learning similar subjects.

“I feel like the purpose of Spanish Honors Society is to engage members that are really interested in Spanish and have a passion for it and connect with likeminded people to have fun on a Spanish level, based on having taken a Spanish class or being interested in Spanish,” Chelsea Chandler, one of the Spanish Honors Society officers, said.

The honors societies achieve these goals of spreading the languages and connecting people through different activities.

“There’s a few different things that we do but one of the main things that I’m in charge of is conversation tables,” senior Brooklyn Bruner, one of the French Honors Society’s board members, said. “We’ll have our new members and our old members all be speaking together in French, practicing their French language and just deepening their understanding of how to speak with other people and communicate in French.” 

While some of these activities take place in the school, not all of them do. They also take trips in which they learn more about the culture of the country they are studying.

“One of the things we did recently was we went to a museum, and we got to see the Dia de los Muertos, which is a very Mexican traditional holiday,” senior Sophia Kroll, a Spanish Honors Society officer, said.

There are other ways that these and similar clubs help students to have an easier time learning the language and culture of the country they study.

“The advantages to being in an honors society are that students are able to get more experiences outside of class that are tailored to learning beyond what they will see in the curriculum and what students in upper classes believe is important to those who are in lower classes and what they believe will be helpful to their learning experience and learning the language,”  senior Grayson Roberts, Vice President of French Honors Society, said.