Ridgely Middle French Students Say 'Oui' to Hard Work

Félicitations—that’s congratulations in French—to some very deserving Ridgely Middle School French I and II students.

The seventh- and eighth-graders performed magnificently (or magnifique!) on the National French Exam, an annual contest sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French.

Ashley Forthuber, an eighth-grade French II student, placed sixth in the state and ninth nationally. She is the only student at Ridgely who placed in the top 10 nationally. This is an exceptional accomplishment, considering she was competing against many high schoolers.

“She really enjoys taking French,” said her mother, Diane Forthuber. “It seems to come naturally to her. She definitely sees herself going forward with it, probably into college.”

Ashley’s seeds of interest in speaking French were planted during a family vacation to France, when she was just finishing up fourth grade. She developed an appreciation for the language and culture, which was her family’s goal.

“She likes learning the language,” said Diane. “She’s not taking it just for school. She wants to use it. So we were very proud of her when we learned how well she had done.  She was very excited and so were we.”

“The language is incredible,” said Ashley, who confessed to feeling so deeply immersed in French that she occasionally finds herself spelling English words in French in her other classes. Recently, making a poster for a school dance, she caught herself writing danse. “It’s so interesting to me. In high school, I know I’m going to take French for all four years. I definitely think I’m going to continue with it.”

Ashley’s French II classmates who placed in the top 20 both state-wide and nationally are Nancy Delcid, Andres Arbelaez and Hannah Wampler. Emily Stubblefield and Julissa Melendez both had top-20 state placements. Rounding out the rest of Ridgely’s hardworking étudiants are the top-30 finishers, both state-wide and nationally: Olivia Golden, Sophie Golden, Grace Landefeld, Yusuf Mahmood, Kimberly Mejia, Ana Pieszala, Stephanie Powell and Taylor Ritter.

Ridgely’s French I students, seventh-graders Jessica Liu and Lisa McCullough, swept Maryland with amazing (or superbe!) first-place state finishes. Classmate Cindy Xie followed up with a second-place state finish. Their classmates Marika Yang, Leo Maderazo, Emma Hardisky, Emilie Delanois, Erin Minick and Moira Sullivan all placed in the state’s top 10. Jack Jahries was hot on their heels with an 11th place state finish.

The annual contest, which is administered in March, includes thousands of students throughout the United States from both public and private schools. Karen Kuebler, a French teacher at Ridgely, is thrilled by her students’ accomplishments but also sees their rankings as a healthy barometer of a Baltimore County Public School education.

“We are a public school,” said Kuebler, “and we are up against all of these really top ranked private schools, and we’re also placing. As an educator, it makes me feel really good about the program we’re delivering.”

Kuebler added that Maryland has the second-highest participation rate out of all 50 states in the National French Exam. For her students to place well on a state level is a tremendous (or fantastique!) accomplishment alone.

“I just think it’s incredible, what they did,” said Kuebler.

Kuebler and Hilary Lutwyche, another French teacher at Ridgely, treated their students to an after-school chocolate fondue celebration to thank them for their hard work.

On May 22, all the Maryland students who placed first and second in the state will celebrate their achievement at Café de Paris in Columbia, MD for a French food luncheon and an awards ceremony.