On Saturday, January 20, during the Hill School’s International Festival, a new Arabic Honor Society (AHS) chapter was introduced. The festival also featured performances and activities lead by both students and professionals.

The Arabic Honor Society is new to the United States, with the Hill chapter being the

13th chapter in the nation. In order for an AHS chapter to exist, the high school must have at least two year’s worth of Arabic coursework and the endorsement of the program’s lead Arabic teacher, according to the Arabic Honor Society website.

“We are considering adding honor societies for other languages in the future to bolster our language programs,” Yassine Benzinane, chair of the modern languages department, said.

Larry Lo ’18, Matt Spencer ’18, Michael Schiavone ’19, Shahzaib Umer ’20, and Adam Benzinane ’21 were the first students at Hill to be inducted as members of the AHS.

    I am very honored to be one of the first students from Hill to be inducted into the Arabic Honor Society,” Lo said.

“The program at Hill seems to be developing very well too, with more and more people being interested in learning new languages.” The requirements for student membership in an AHS Chapter, as stated on the official website, are as follows: 1.5 years of high school level Arabic study, an average 90% or equivalent across Arabic courses, a minimum of 3.0 GPA, and the ability to maintain these averages each semester.

The induction was just one part of the International Festival, which included many other major activities and performances. Performances from artists outside the Hill School included:

The PENN Chinese Dance Club, a student-run non-profit dance group, world-renownedcomposer, violinist Hanna Khoury, and master percussionist Hafez Javier Kotain. The Hill School’s Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra, Chamber Choir and Chorus also performed, alongside other Hill students.

“This year we have decided to enhance the International Festival and collaborate with themusic department and professional performers from cultures that are represented in our language programs,” Benzinane said. “We are considering making this an annual event to celebrate students’ learning of world languages and cultures.”

There have been several past cultural events at Hill under the direction of Wei-Jei DeLucia,

An instructor of Chinese. Those events consisted of student-run performances and activities.

“The International Festival is a cultural show,” DeLucia said. “We are trying to bring the world to The Hill School.”