I am writing this letter in response to a West Milford Messenger article titled “Will School Budget mean Au Revoir to French?” As a student of French in the West Milford school system for five years, I was deeply upset over this article. Thanks to the patience and devotion of my teachers, including Mrs. Schopp, Mrs. Stanley and Dr. Phillian, my French studies allowed me to visit Quibec, Canada twice with the WMHS French program. Those incredible experiences were the spark that began my love for traveling. I am currently a Junior at Washington College in Maryland, majoring in international studies and minoring in French and economics. It was my high school French classes that allowed me to study in Paris for the spring semester of 2009 and gave me the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe. Mr. Bruce Bialkin, a teacher of mine during my senior year at WMHS, was quoted in your article as saying, “Other schools are adding Mandarin, Arabic. We seem to be going in the opposite direction.” In today’s world, the importance of being able to speak more than one language cannot be stressed enough. After traveling through 15 European countries, I have yet to meet a student under the age of 30 who speaks only one language. It will be an incredible loss to both West Milford and the students when any language programs are cut. Caitlyn Roykovich WMHS Class of 2007