French Club at Dimond High School is taking a new direction this year.

French Club was created last year by Senior Rachel Lowrance, and former Tunisian exchange student, Amine Boughanmi.

“French culture has always been an important and large part of my life. Before coming to Dimond, I went to a French immersion school,” said Lowrance.

“I started the club to bring more French culture to Dimond. I was really glad that Amine wanted to help me.”

Lowrance and Boughanmi met while he was in America last year from

Tunisia studying abroad at Dimond. As a fluent French speaker, he and Lowrance hit it off immediately and eventually started the club together.

“Amine took care of most of the paperwork, while I planned all of the meetings and got Mrs. Hopkins to sponsor us,” said Lowrance.

“Our partnership worked out really well. I think it really helped that we were friends already.”

Boughanmi is back home in Tunisia now, but Lowrance is sure that he’d be proud of how far the club has come since its beginnings last year.

This year, the club has expanded in size and changes have begun. As of this year, there is a new vice president, Won Ro, and with his help, Lowrance is taking the club in a new direction.

“It will be a lot like Waffle Club,” said Lowrance. “Everyone will begin to pay a monthly fee that will go towards French food that I will bring to our Thursday meetings.”

“But we’ll also continue to do what we did last year. We’ll play games, listen to music and socialize.”

Everyone in the club seems to be excited about the new changes.

Sophomores Gigi Powelson and Gwenna Nichols both joined French club this year and are looking forward to trying new foods, as well as the other activities.

“I think getting to experience French culture every week is a really great opportunity, and I’m really excited for meetings in the future,” said Powelson.

“I’m really looking forward to French Club. Gigi and I even had an idea for an activity for the club,” Nichols added.

“In France, they have a holiday called King’s Day where you bake a doll into a cake and whoever gets the doll gets to wear a crown all day. I think it will be really fun to try with everyone.”

Meetings for French Club are held every Thursday during upperclassmen lunch.

To join, all Lowrance asks is that you show up, talk to her, and pay the monthly fee for food.

You can also request a scholarship to be excused from paying if necessary.

“Everyone is welcome,” said Lowrance.

She encourages anyone that wants to learn about French culture to stop by and see if they would want to join. It is also not required that you speak French. Like Lowrance said herself, everyone is welcome.

Lowrance said, “I love to meet new people at Dimond and to get to know them. It’s my favorite part of French Club.”

Make sure to go to Mrs. Hopkins’ room every Thursday during upperclassmen lunch, room B107, and join French club.