The Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey is an organization that gives high school seniors the opportunity to win a $1,000 scholarship for their abilities in speaking a foreign language. This past week, Pascack Hills Senior Micaela Mongelli was awarded the title of being the top senior student in the state of New Jersey in Spanish.
Even though Micaela was entered into this scholarship competition based on nomination, competing was not an easy task because all applicants were required to complete both a written component and an oral component. Micaela was one of few students to be selected to move onto semi-finals, where she participated in an oral interview on the phone in Spanish. Let’s be honest: most of us would feel extremely intimidated by these tasks. But, Micaela is used to this kind of pressure as the multi-talented senior also competes in dance at a very high level.
Aside from the recognition, what else does this award mean? This amazing title represents not only the Spanish speaking skills of Micaela, but also represents the accomplishments of the Foreign Language faculty we have here at Pascack Hills High School. The students here are lucky to have such dedicated teachers who provide us with the knowledge and support system that we need in order to improve and excel in our target language.
Our foreign language curriculum is both challenging and engaging, and is what allows us as students to become more fluent and skilled at speaking in another language. Maybe Micaela’s amazing achievement can motivate other students in our school to dedicate their time to the gradual process of learning a language, and understand the importance and reward in learning one.
