The French National Honor Society had its first ever Mardi Gras fondue party, Tuesday, Feb. 17. This party had fondue of all types, cheese and chocolate alike, along with food to dip into said fondue. French teacher Denise Smith organized the event in order to get the club more recognition since it’s the club’s first year.
Upon entry, students and teachers had to pay $2 and the club raised a total of $138. With this total, Smith estimated around 60 people came to enjoy the fondue.
“60 people came through, so I’m not upset because it’s an inaugural year,” Smith said. “You never know how it’s going to go. You never know if people are going to take to it, but I do think people really did enjoy it, and we’ll definitely do next year.”
While there wasn’t a lot of staff that came through, senior Kylie Stegner thought the student turnout was good for the club.
“The turnout was better than I thought, because we were behind on advertising and whatnot, but the fondues were delicious,” Stegner said. “I didn’t actually get to try all of them myself, but I really wish I did. A lot of people said that it was really good and they really wanted seconds.”
Since the number of students who came was more than expected, senior Barron Fox thinks that they ran out of food more quickly than expected.
“We could have had a bigger turnout, and we could have made more fondue,” Fox said. “I feel like we ran out fairly quickly of everything, but it was also the first time we ever made fondue. So I bet that if we knew how to make it prior, it would have been better.”
While the purpose of this party was to bring in students, when Smith would put this event on at her other school, she saw more teachers supporting the club.
“I would have liked to have seen administration come through too,” Smith said. “At my old school, it became so popular that the minute school started, they were like, ‘are you doing it again?’ It was really a really cool event that, granted, it was a much smaller school, but it definitely brought the school together. That’s what I loved about doing it.”
Since this party was a fundraiser for the club, Smith intends to compile the money they made and put it not only towards the club’s needs but also towards the club’s wants.
“A lot of this goes towards when we do our induction ceremonies, but then also the hope is building an account so that we can then do more fun events,” Smith said. “Whether it’s going to authentic French cafes around here to provide our transportation to go there to have a discussion that I can set up with native French speakers.”
