pictured above: Jackie Madison, President of the Underground Railroad Museum and Professor Annie Rochon

Our French II class with Annie Rochon was asked by The North Star Underground Railroad Museum to translate the information from their John Thomas exhibit into French, for their many French-speaking visitors. We were glad to help! We split into groups and divided the work, then put it all together. None of us were expecting to learn anything about the Underground Railroad that we hadn’t already learned in middle and high school. But as it turned out, we not only learned new things about the secret cooperative network, but how it was connected to the namesake of our college. Paul Smith gave portions of the many acres of land he owned to former slaves for them to live on, and to make a living by farming the land. The trip to the museum was a great experience. We bonded as a class, learned new things, and had a lot of fun.

As a token of appreciation and gratitude to our class, for completing the French translations for the museum, our teacher Annie Rochon was given a prestigious award, The Lantern Light Award. This award is the museum’s highest honor, and was the highlight of their annual meeting, which was held Saturday, November 14th, 2015. The award is a handcrafted lantern, resembling the lanterns Abolitionists placed in their windows so those seeking freedom would know where to go.

We are extremely proud to have received such an honor. I love what the award represents. It represents hope, freedom and new beginnings.

Yuta Kon, Timothy Hoffman, Zachary Brooks, Nicole Armstrong, Veronika Vanisheuskaya, Ashley Hodge, Stephen Wood, Nicolas Gonzales, Tiffany Elyse Perez, Niklas Van Den Woldenberg, Tyema Stephens, Jacob Cassidy, Nathaniel Gauthier, Christopher Robison, and Kevin Shea.

Missing in the picture: Ashlee Doele and Professor Annie Rochon