Community Outreach: Buffalo Excellence Certificate and an Excellence Award
Nadine Beauharnais, winner
Olivia Arditi, President, AF Buffalo
The Alliance Française de Buffalo (AFB) offers local high-schools a dual merit program consisting of an Excellence Certificate and an Excellence Award. The combined program is good publicity for the more active teachers who are made aware of our existence, and for motivated students who want to practice their new skills.
For the past 10 years, the AFB has written in the Spring to each of the 150 public and private high schools in the eight counties of Western New York. We ask that the head French teacher in the school nominate the best student. During their graduation ceremony, the selected students are given an Alliance Française de Buffalo Excellence Certificate, along with a one-year honorary membership to our organization that entitles them to receive the bi-monthly bilingual newsletter Les Nouvelles de l'Alliance.
Since 2004, the AFB in collaboration with a local foundation, the Melodia Jones Fund, added an extra perk to the program. The students selected by the head French teacher are eligible to enter an exam, the French Study Excellence Award exam, and the three candidates with the highest grades split a prize that amounts to a total of $1150. At the end of the school year, we publish the names of the Excellence Certificate and Excellence Award winners, and the name of the school they belong to, on our web site and in our newsletter. After high-school graduation, we usually see a few young people interested in participating in the weekly conversation groups.
You may check the Alliance Française de Buffalo's Outreach Programs for more information.