On April 6, 2026, several students from Lincoln East High School that are involved in a language class spent their day in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska. They spent their time on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln participating in a state wide Language Fair.
The language fair–according to the UNL Department of Modern Languages and Literatures–is “high school students from across the state studying Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese have the opportunity to demonstrate acquisition of language and cultural knowledge in competitive events.” The events ranged widely. Students can participate in poetry, music, drama, folk dancing, art, and even making short films.
Lincoln East had numerous students that were sent to participate. The students from East consisted of three Spanish students, 20 German students, and 20 French students.
One of the biggest advocates to participate in the Language Fair is none other than Cara Heminger, also widely known as “Madame Heminger”. Heminger has been dedicated to being a French teacher for 25 years, besides this being her second year teaching at East.
Heminger took multiple of her French students to UNL to compete in any events for the French language. Heminger reflects on all the hard work her students put in, resulting in several winning placements.
“We have four overall winners for French and two overall winners in Spanish and two in German,” said Heminger. “But we are currently waiting to hear back for every student’s results.”
Heminger’s devotion to partaking in the Language Fair is inspiring to all of her students, and enjoys learning about various languages.
“I was very impressed as I watched poetry and saw the different events,” said Heminger.
Sophomores Alexis Proctor and Bella Myers,, were two of the Lincoln East students who attended this year’s language fair from Heminger’s French three class. They participated by performing a viral French rap song, minimum ca.
“We were like “we’re gonna sing minima ca and the whole crowd goes wild,”” said Myers. “It was a crazy environment.”
Reflecting on their time spent at the language fair, Proctor encourages people to attend. This experience can lead to new ideas and new connections
“The language fair was super fun,” said Proctor. “It was a great experience to meet new people and see other cultures.”
However, Myers and Proctor were not the only ones who competed, let alone, French was not the only language class from Lincoln East who attended the fair. As previously stated, Spanish and German also took part.
“Miss Senora Smith took three students to the fair,” Heminger said. “And Fraulein Kruger brought 20 of her German students to the fair.”
East students in German, Weston Hershey and Adalyn Hershey, received first place for their short film in the German one category. Another winner for German was Hazel Siliva’s first place in German poetry.
Students here at East are tremendously talented and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s language fair showcased only a glimpse of these talents. The experiences and opportunities to become a state finalist is so special. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is looking to host their next state language fair on Thursday, April 8, of 2027.
