Catherine Gagulashvili co-editor-in-chief

With COVID-19 pushing learning and test-taking online, the National French Contest was no exception. This shift in test-taking, however, did not keep 27 students from ranking in the top 10 within their respective levels. 

This competition is the only French competition of its kind in the country, with 5 competitive levels, having historically over 100,000 students compete, French teacher Corrine Carlson said. 
Senior Matthew Allana, who has been taking French since the 7th grade, and is currently enrolled in AP French won a gold medal in the 5th level, ranking first in Southern California and third nationally. 
“I’ve loved all my experiences in the program because the French teachers really care about instilling a love of the language and culture in their students,” he said.
The exam, which was online this year, had multiple upsides but was a bit more difficult to understand. 
“I liked the online format because I could choose how I wanted to split my time among the sections and I could listen to the audio multiple times. However, not being able to write directly on the reading passages occasionally made understanding the passages a bit harder,” he said. “I was definitely very proud because it was so great to see that years of studying French have paid off and that I have a good understanding of the language.”