On Monday, March 23, about 50 French students from Centennial, Liberty, and Lone Star high schools attended the Dallas Stars hockey game. The students received an opportunity to meet with Stars player Antoine Roussel.

Antoine Roussel is a French-Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. He is 25 years old and from Roubaix, France.

After the game, the students had a private meet-and-greet Antoine Roussel. They had an opportunity to ask questions in French and also enjoyed many photos with Mr. Roussel.

“It was interesting to meet someone who fluently speaks French who actually comes from France,” Katherine Williams, 2017, said.

For some students, like Jaylon Almond, this was their first hockey game, and also their first time meeting someone famous.

“I was a little star-struck, I’m not going to lie. It was just really cool to have the chance to meet someone actually from France,” Jaylon Almond, 2017, said.

The French language derives from Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. When ancient Gaul, which is now modern France, was conquered by the Romans in the first and second century B.C., its inhabitants spoke Gaulish, a Celtic language, which was changed to the Latin of the Roman overlords and later became the French language known today.

“I really like to know and feel the history of things that I study, and French is one of them. You could really feel the excitement at the hockey game and you could feel the history when Roussel was speaking,” Jason Gaffeny, 2017, said.