Signal Mountain Middle/High School students Ethan Fell, Catherine Chimley and Dana McCormack have been ranked nationally in the 81st annual National French Contest, or Le Grand Concours, a national competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French.
More than 85,000 French students in all 50 states competed in the 2016 event and were evaluated on their written, oral and listening comprehension skills in French.
This is the first year SMMHS students have participated.
Ethan, an eighth-grader, ranked in the 95th percentile for his category and received the gold medal. Freshman Catherine scored in the 90th percentile and was ranked 10th, while sophomore Dana scored in the 80th percentile and was ranked 17th. They will be awarded the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Ethan and Catherine both said they were inspired by their fathers, who both took French, to study the language. Ethan said being able speak conversationally with his father definitely gave his skills a boost from the start.
Dana said that being good at English is helpful when learning another language. She credits a large part of her success to her teachers, especially SMMHS French teacher Amber Thevenet, for teaching her the elements of the language in a quick and easy way.
She said Thevenet also looks outside the textbook to help students better master the language, such as watching French TV shows and listening to French music.
"She makes sure we enjoy the process of learning so we are able to make connections and make language a part of our lives," said Dana, who would like to eventually be able to use her skills in the workplace.
Coming from a family of travelers, Ethan said he looks forward to improving his skills when visiting French-speaking countries, which he has yet to do.
"I would love to be fluent and have my kids speak French one day," he added.