In the United States – one of three countries that has no official dialect – over 350 languages are spoken, according to the 2020 Census Report. While English is the predominant language of America, some citizens like senior Sofia Nicot choose to embrace their strong native roots. Nicot, who is of French and Cuban descent, integrates French customs important to her family into her everyday life, making her native French heritage an integral part of who she is.

Nicot has been traveling to France since she was a baby and had visited the country five summers in a row before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The entire side of her father’s family reside in France along with her mother and brothers.

“My French roots are shown through our cooking at home although we also make lots of Cuban food too. We also have some tv channels that are in French to stay updated with what is going on in France,” Nicot said. “At times it is difficult [to be away from France] since I feel very separated from lots of people I love.”

Furthering her involvement in her native culture, Nicot had become an active member of French NHS and French Club as well as completing all four French courses, according to French teacher Charisse Highlander.

“As a student, [Nicot] still learns things in her native tongue of French and she’s very willing and very eager and very curious [sic] about the things we’re learning with French grammar and vocab,” Highlander said. “In these societies and clubs that she’s a member of she is very willing to share her knowledge of the language and culture with others.”

Concurring with Highlander, French NHS officer senior Taylor Moss attributes Nicot’s prominence in the school’s French community to her eagerness to share her native culture with others.

“I met Sofia through the French program; through all these different clubs she’s been able to show her native roots through the music that she provides and through her ideas for what we can do as a group for NHS and French club,” Moss said.

Defining herself through “taking a lot of pride” in her French roots, Nicot aspires to use her cultural background to educate others on the world around them.

“I think everyone should learn about another culture and language because there are only benefits to doing it,” Nicot said. “You become more open-minded which everyone should be, especially with everything that is currently going on in the world.”