Page created by Gabe Cardenas ('20); other contributors include Kate Levin (Class of 2023)
DHS has always had an in-depth and diverse foreign language program. From the very beginning, various levels Spanish and French have been offered for students of all years. The Spanish language program, being the only one to continuously have an honors society dedicated to it, has always been the largest one. The more advanced Spanish classes offered an opportunity to switch places with a student from Benito Juarez High, a school with a majority Latino constituency. Some classes at DHS were even taught by a native speaker, Jerome Carvajal, a Mexican-American who taught at DHS from 1968 to 1989. These various opportunities for first-hand experiences of foreign languages certainly enriched the learning experience for curious students and opened up countless possibilities for their futures.
German and Latin were also part of the original language courses offered in DHS, although on a much smaller scale. For the last decade of the German language program, there was only one teacher for the entire program, a Mr. Charles Schligden. Having taught classes from 1972 to 1993, his retirement spelled the end for the German language program at DHS. Italian was also briefly offered as a class at DHS, though the program only lasted 6 or so years. Another language course with a brief but interesting history at DHS is Hebrew. Although our Hebrew Honor Society has only been around since 2005, the class has been offered here sporadically as far back as 1973! Although many of these language courses, just like Hebrew, were not always available at DHS, students always had the option of taking the courses in Highland Park High School, which allowed students from Deerfield to enroll in varied language courses at their campus and still earn credits for their respective high school's transcript.
International Encounters was a club at DHS in 1979. The club was aimed at combining foreign language exposure in multiple languages in the form of cultural movies, the Christmas Banquet with lots of foods from various countries, and field trips to the Pompeii Exhibit and the Museum of Science Industry.