Ladue’s three language honor societies, la Société Honoraire de Française, Delta Epsilon Phi and la Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica held their new member induction Nov. 9 in the Performing Arts Center.

The event featured candle lighting and speeches from principal Brad Griffith and superintendent Donna Jahnke. After the speeches, members of each society were called individually on stage to receive their diploma and shake hands with the speakers.

“We invited all three so they could talk to students about the importance of language and the benefits of pursuing a second or third language,” FNHS sponsor Bridget Milford said. “There’s a lot of opportunities that open up once you learn another language.”

During the planning stages of the induction, officers of each society met and discussed the individual components of the ceremony. Each group of officers wrote introductions for their respective language societies and organized the decorations and food for induction.

“My role was preparing a speech for the induction where I introduced me and the other officers,” junior and La Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica junior president Noor Rahman said. “I also worked with Señora Sloan to prepare the events for the night in general. We had to create and print programs, order a cake, organize speakers, buy balloons and [manage] other decorations.”

As practice, the societies held an induction rehearsal Nov. 7 during seminar in the PAC. New inductees were briefed on their assigned alphabetical seating and what they had to do.

“Being president of the German Honor Society, I had fewer inductees to worry about,” Delta Epsilon Phi president Teddy Vincent said. “However, I had to make sure all of my inductees knew what to do when their name was called [like] reading the oath and everything. We held a seminar rehearsal in order to help the students from all three honor societies feel prepared for the night’s events.”

After the actual induction, members and their families ate cake and socialized. The cake featured the logos of each society and congratulated new inductees.

“I was most proud of my French honor society officers and how incredibly organized they were, the amount of hard work they put into [the induction ceremony] outside of school to organize everything, their overall professionalism and willingness to go the extra step,” Milford said.