Le Congrès de la Culture Française en Floride, or more widely known as the State of Florida French Competition is celebrating 71 years of the annual French state contest. On March 9-11 students from all around Florida gathered at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel at the Entrance to Universal Orlando for the competition, including Plant High School. Along Mme. Macy and Mme. Coffey, the two French teachers at Plant, brought their students of all four levels of the language to apply it beyond school walls, learn about French culture, and win numerous awards. 

The Congress of French Culture in Florida was established to attract the interest of students from Florida for language, literature and French civilization. During the Congress held in the spring of each year, participants take part in various competitions such as dictation, reading, play, skit, and French trivia. The students have the opportunity to demonstrate their talents and also to meet other enthusiastic Francophiles who inspire one another. As a matter of fact, Florida is the only state with such competition dedicated to French students in the country. 

“Freshman year I went to Congrès because Madame Coffey pushed me to do it, and surely, it looks good on college applications. But this year it was because the competition itself is really fun and I like to challenge my acting and see if I can perform in French like I can in English,” senior Hannah Woodside said. 

The theme for the 2022 contest was  Innovations du monde francophone. This year again there was an option for two separate competitions- online and in person- to accommodate students in regards to Covid restrictions. And each school may bring an unlimited number of competitors to participate in the following competitive categories: 

• Pièce de Théâtre (a theater piece in French)  
• Saynète (a skit dedicated for French 1)  
• Project (two or three-dimensional displays such as maps, paintings, models, costumes, ceramics, carvings, etc. surrounding the designated theme)  
• Album (a scrapbook is a student-produced compilation of photographs, drawings and narratives depicting the school’s French Club and/or French class activities during the past year.)  
• Discours-Causerie (Discours is a timed impromptu speech in front of the judges. Causerie is a timed conversation with the judges about a random subject.)  

• Declamation (a recitation of a poem in French)  
• Lecture (a multiple-choice reading comprehension test which may or may not adhere to the Congrès theme. The student will be asked to choose the most appropriate answers to questions based on the reading selection.)  
• Casse-tête (A fast-paced question and answer elimination game played in 5 rounds between two high school teams- just like trivia)  
• Chance aux Chansons (amusical performance done in front of the judges- a song or instrumental piece.)  
• Program and T-shirt design (student design submissions for the program cover and the T-shirt) 

This year, the Plant French teachers, alongside the chosen French students left Tampa and made their way up to Orlando to the CCFF. A scene of L’Avare by Moliere was performed by Hannah Woodside, Fletcher Heuchan, Emily Perry, Addison Gear, Sophia Gray, Luka Vaicekauskas, Maxime Moore, and Charles Tufenkji. Trey Horwitz, Emmit Alen, and Jose Colina made it to the semi-finals of the French Trivia, and overall H.B. Plant had its two very first board members for the national board of the Congrès de la Culture Française en Florid- Luka Vai. And Charles Tufenkji. All in all, poems recited by Elianne Brito, Sydney Cockrell, and others, free-speeches given, as by Trey Korwitz, who won superior on the topic assigned, and all of the projects presented, showed how arduous work paid off and how rewarding learning a foreign language is.    

“Congress gave me a more holistic knowledge of French culture from the lense of a native Parisien, if you will. It gave me more knowledge on French history, cuisine, et cetera, which really encompasses the beauty of French language and culture,” Emmit Allen said. 

By all accounts, the Congress of French Culture in Florida is a unique and challenging phenomenon whose effects do little to dissipate as the days and weeks follow it. The friendships that are formed, the ideas that are forged and especially the interests of students and teachers to share the French language and Francophone culture make it an extraordinary success.  

“This was probably our most successful year so far, because we got a superior this year and the hardest content to memorize for the skit in the Piece du Theatre event, and the fact that we had most people included in the skit really did bring everything together and it all came out very nicely and created a great experience for me,” Emily Perry said. 

A la année procaine!