The McGowan building’s cafeteria was stuffed with families eager to get a taste of several world cultures at CHS’s first annual World Language Banquet, held on Tuesday, February 28.

Dozens of students, all of which are currently studying either Chinese, French, German, or Spanish, created dishes from the culture of one of the countries they have learned about in class.

“I was very hopeful that we would have this kind of turnout,” said Heather Bosnyak, the head of Carlisle’s world language department and one of the people in charge of the event. “I think this is great. We have pretty much filled three-quarters of the McGowan cafeteria.”

The students, as well as their families, then sampled the foods that were provided. They then voted on which foods they liked the best. Each voter chose a savory course and a dessert course, and then submitted their ballot to the world language department.

The favorite foods of the students varied from student to student. Annelise DeYoung, a freshman currently taking French II, spoke highly of the leche cake. Marco Costopoulous, another freshman who is currently studying German, said he enjoyed the lemon mousse most of all. 

Students could also take part in a Chinese calligraphy demonstration, taught by students in the Chinese language program.

Although the teachers in the foreign language department came up with the idea for the banquet, students played an important role in making it happen. 

“We helped with the set up, the teardown, and some of the planning stuff behind it,” said Sarah Ebert, a CHS senior. Ebert serves as the Spanish National Honors Society’s vice president.

In lieu of bringing food, Ebert provided musical entertainment for part of the night, by performing “Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias.

“It was a lot of fun to prepare for because it was challenging in a unique way,”  said Ebert, “When you’re learning a song in English it’s a lot easier because you just have to focus on the intonation and the melody and the rhythm, whereas if you’re singing in a different language you have to worry about the pronunciation, whether you’re getting the words right.”

The event was extremely well recieved by the students in attendance. DeYoung described the event as “amazing” and “spectacular,” while Costopoulous commended the enjoyable atmosphere.

“It’s nice to [be able to] hang out with your friends,” said Costopoulous.

The world language department took the positive comments about the event to heart, and spoke of its plans to continue the event in the future.

“We did call it the first annual [event,] so yes, I would love to continue the tradition,” said Bosnyak. “I think we had a good game plan and I think everything came together.”

Click on the photo below to see a few scenes from the night.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Samantha Martin

A student tries their hand at Chinese calligraphy.