St. Rita Honors National Foreign Language Week: Languages Take You Places

This year’s National Foreign Language Week celebration, hosted by our World Language Department, taught our St. Rita Family to explore languages and embrace culture in a fun interactive environment.

To kick things off, our AP Spanish Language and Culture class decorated our second floor academic hallway with international flags representing various countries from around the world. Mr. Bogucki’s and Mr. Tellez’s Spanish 1 classes and Mrs. Loris’ Latin 1 class had their students write out our core values of Truth (Veritas), Unity (Unitas), and Love (Caritas) in different languages and showcased their creative designs around campus. These vibrant displays were a great way of representing appreciation for our diverse countries and languages.

Throughout the week, our friends at Country House prepared gourmet international themed lunches for our Ritamen to explore new cuisines of different cultures. These included:

Monday, March 3: Cabbage Rolls with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies (Poland)

Tuesday, March 4: Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice and Naan Bread (India)

Wednesday, March 5: Crispy Potato Tacos with Red Rice and Salad (Mexico)

Thursday, March 6: Chicken Ramen Bowl with Fresh Toppings (Japan)

Friday, March 7: Spinach and Feta Pie OR Broiled Grecian Whitefish with Greek Potatoes and Zucchini (Greece)

Next, our World Language Department put together a fun trivia competition, “World Languages are a ‘Ka-hoot,’” where our St. Rita Family played Kahoot answering questions about the many foreign languages spoken around the world including the rich cultures that speak them. Congratulations to our top three winners from Monday’s and Friday’s competition:

Monday’s Top 3 Winners:

1st Place: Oscar Salgado ‘25

2nd Place: Gavin Johnson ‘28

3rd Place: Joe Baxtrom ‘26

Friday’s Top 3 Winners:

1st Place: Kevin McNamara ‘27

2nd Place: Joaquin Ortiz ‘26

3rd Place: Josue Garcia ‘28

On Friday, our Band Director, Mr. Habrelewicz, put together an international music playlist to listen to during passing periods, filling the hallways with diverse songs from around the world.

Our Ritamen also participated in our annual poster contest. Each year, students design a poster based on the year’s theme. This year’s theme was “Languages Take You Places.” Our St. Rita Family voted electronically for the top three poster designs that represented this year’s theme best. Congratulations to our top three winners: 

1st Place: Logan Shields ‘27

2nd Place: Joaquin Ortiz ‘26

3rd Place: Landon Fullerton ‘28

To conclude the week, our Ritamen received the opportunity to purchase pulseras, which are colorful handwoven bracelets. Pulseras allow our students to bring the beauty of Latin American culture to life throughout our campus. This year, we sold 122 pulseras and raised a total of $610 for The Pulsera Project. You can learn more about The Pulsera Project here.

Thank you to our World Language Department for their commitment to expanding our understanding of different languages and cultures, making National Foreign Language Week a true celebration of learning.