Nine students from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University were inducted to Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honors Society, on April 27 in Alum Hall at the Haehn Campus Center in St. Joseph.

The new members are Cooper Anderson, Kevin Arthur, Maria Beck, Olivia Galloway, Ken Mersch, Logan Miller, Betsy Ruckman, Adrion Sangster and Bella Sczublewski. Arthur, Miller and Ruckman are graduating seniors.

The induction ceremony included recognition of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) senior awards for 2023, led into Lyric Festival – a showcase of Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s students’ performances in French, and served as prelude to an announcement that two Bennies have accepted assignments to the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) for 2023-2024. 

AATF award recipients included Autumn Ayer, Stevie Dickison, Celeste Dickson and Cate Luna, all of whom are graduating seniors and were inducted to Pi Delta Phi last year. Ayer, who recently received a Fulbright U.S. Student Award to serve as an English Teaching Assistant during the 2023-24 academic year in Belgium, received the Outstanding Senior in French award. TAPIF graduates include Dickison, who will teach in the Amiens region during 2023-24, and Luna, who will teach in the Nantes region. Additionally, Olivia Solano ’22 recently opted to serve a second year of TAPIF in the Orléans-Tours region.

For more about French Studies, visit the department page or contact Ana Conboy, chair of the Languages and Cultures Department at CSB and SJU.

The newest members of Pi Delta Phi, Rho Alpha chapter, include (from left) Betsy Ruckman '23, Bella Sczublewski '25, Cooper Anderson '25, Logan Miller '23, Adrion Sangster '25, Kevin Arthur '23, Ken Mersch '25, Maria Beck '24 and Olivia Galloway '25.