Courtesy photo AAHS student Camille Krug is shown with French teacher Veronica Skomra.

Students from Altoona Area High School have achieved national rankings in the 90th annual Le Grand Concours, according to Lisa Narug, national director of the competition.

Le Grand Concours is a prestigious national French competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), where students are evaluated on their written, oral and listening comprehension skills.

More than 46,000 students participated in the 2025 event near the beginning of April 2025. Students studying French at Altoona Area High School participated in this national competition for the first time.

Camille Krug, an 11th-grade student at Altoona Area High School and a student of French teacher Veronica Skomra, earned a bronze medal and achieved the highest score among all participants from Altoona.

Camille placed second in the local AATF chapter and the top 14 percent nationally.

In addition, the following students received honorable mentions, scoring between the 51st and 68th percentiles nationally:

n Caleb Terza, 11th grade

n Isabella Abbott, 11th grade

n Ava Cabell, 12th grade

n Migleiry Protillo-Montilla, 10th grade

n Jacob Matosziuk, 10th grade

The Altoona Area High School community congratulates these students on their outstanding accomplishments in this prestigious competition.

AATF President Will Thompson indicated: ‘As President of AATF, and as someone who has been involved with Le Grand Concours at the chapter level for more than 20 years, I am delighted to extend my congratulations to those students who have performed exceptionally well on the Concours.

“I hope their accomplishments encourage them to continue to cultivate their interest in French and Francophone language and culture in future years. I also want to thank all of those teachers who had students compete in the Concours this year; I sincerely appreciate their commitment to expanding their students’ opportunities in their French studies.

“I am particularly encouraged to see an increase in participation in Le Grand Concours this year, and hope that is a sign that French in the United States continues to be a subject area that is valued in our schools for many reasons.”

For more information about the National French Contest, visit www.frenchteachers.org/concours.