The French Honors Society (FHS) is committed to fostering Francophone culture. This club, sponsored by French and Spanish teacher Christine Maass, works hard on planning and setting up fundraisers and meetings. 

FHS is selective with the application and acceptance into the club. Students who want to be in the club must be taking French four+, and must have gotten an A in all semesters of high school French. In addition, The Honors Society website states “Candidates must have maintained a B- (80) average or higher in all other secondary school subjects.” 

The current team of officers for the club is extensive with juniors and seniors. It includes President Jahnavee Chakravarthy, VP Krishna Tipparaju, Co-secretaries Aliki Shoemaker and Arya Ramachandran, Treasurer Mira Sadetierova, Historian Ishani Tyagi, Publicist Ethan Wong and Historian Isaac Haile.  

Club duties include completing 12 hours of community service. This can be done by going to meetings, participating in fundraisers and collections, tutoring, or creating posters to advertise the drives.

FHS has been around since 1927. It was founded by Charles A. Downer, who was the first president. The purpose of FHS, as stated on the FHS national website is the “maintenance of the highest standards of [Francophone] culture.”

Students in the club are committed and hard working. “Everyone that is a part of FHS is not only a good student, but also committed to learning more about Francophone culture,” Co-secretary, junior Aliki Shoemaker said,

FHS holds events and fundraisers for club members and officers and with their friends and family. Examples include: movie nights, potlucks, book and battery drives and dinners at French restaurants. “This year [compared to last year] we will be having more opportunities, which we are looking forward to very much,” Shoemaker said

FHS broadens understanding of different Francophone cultures for students in the club. It fosters a community of hardworking, smart and involved students. “I am interested in learning French culture and comparing its different aspects to my own [Armenian],” sophomore club member Kristina Khrimian said.

 Maass helps find places for the club to hold activities. She is invested and enthusiastic about helping the club. “I try very hard to make FHS not all about mainstream France and French culture. I try to find material from other Francophone countries and cultures, like Canada, French West Indies, etc,” Maass said. 

FHS held a fundraiser at Paul’s Bakery in Bethesda on Oct. 10, at 4 p.m.. “It was a great way to start off the year…it was a very fun event, and the food was amazing,” Shoemaker said.

The current and ongoing events that FHS is sponsoring include the book drive (for kids in Africa) and the battery drive (to recycle batteries). “The drives are a great way to give back to the community and earn membership hours,” Shoemaker said