St. Mary’s Dominican High School French Club members Andrea Garces, Jessica Wallesverd, and Emilie Wensel, competed at the French Convention held in Lafayette. The event is hosted by Association Louisianaise des Clubes Francaises des Ecoles Secondaires (ALCFES). Wensel took second place in the Spelling Bee and Garces received a scholarship to study in Mons, Belgium this summer. Dominican French teacher Joan Rupp is French Club moderator.

ALCFES is an association of high schools in Louisiana dedicated to the education, preservation, and calibration of French in the state. The association works closely with Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), the office of Franco Affaires for the State of Louisiana. CODOFIL’s mission is to work toward the creation of an eco-system that permits the development of French in the economic, educational, cultural and professional sectors and in which Louisiana’s French and Creole speakers are valorized in their cultural and linguistic identity.