By Camille Shooshani, Catherine Wang and Elana Zeltser

The Foreign Language Awards assembly honored students who have excelled in advanced foreign language courses on Tuesday, May 17 in Rugby Auditorium.

Senior awards were presented to Gabe Benjamin ’11 for Japanese, Austin Block ’11 for Spanish, Jordan Freisleben ’11 for French, Robby Goldman ’11 for Latin and Brian Harwitt ’11 for Chinese.

Foreign Language Department Head Paul Chenier gave the ceremony’s opening remarks, calling the sophomores honored the “young Turks of the foreign language department,” the juniors “the god Atlas,” and the seniors the “elder statesmen” with “gravitas and authority.” Faculty representatives from each foreign language department — Chinese, French, Japanese, Latin and Spanish — called to the stage students who have “completed up to level four with success,” Chenier said.

When students accepted their certificate, they marked their entrance into the National Honors Society for their language.

Before receiving their awards, Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish students stood up and pledged, speaking in their respective languages, to continue learning and perfecting their fluency.