YUM. The 2016-17 French Club kicks off with the annual picnic on Wed. Sept. 21. The club’s calendar is more or less consistent from year to year. This year’s club co-presidents are juniors Ryan Tufts and Jenna Bao, the vice president is junior Aidan Reckamp, and the secretary is sophomore Elizabeth Armstrong. All photos courtesy of Jenna Bao.

BONDING. The picnic features French food, and each participant must contribute by signing up to bring certain must-have items. The item in most demand is always bread, with over a dozen baguettes being consumed. Other favorites include cheeses like brie or goat cheese, croissants, macarons, and Orangina, a drink similar to Fanta.

CHECK. Mrs. Leslie Chapman and eager petanque players closely examine the proximity of the petanque balls. Petanque, bocce ball, is a popular activity in France that consists of tossing bocce balls to a smaller ball, the target. Whichever team’s balls are closest get points per ball. The club activity was organized as a tournament which quickly became competitive.

COMPETITION. Junior Matthew Woodside tosses a petanque ball in the final round of the tournament. The final two teams consisted of juniors Adam Meller, Woodside, and Oliver Garrett, last year’s champions, and juniors Lalitha Konda, Bao, Reckamp, and Tufts. After multiple close matches the latter team came out on top.

FANCY. Sophomore Luis Pereda Amaya samples dark chocolate and evaluates its flavor profile. French Club’s November meeting was a cheese and chocolate tasting. The tasting featured three types of French cheese: goat cheese, Camembert and Comte, and four chocolates ranging from dark to milk from France, Belgium, and Switzerland.