2008-2009 Cultural Service Project
UNH Chapter of French Honor Society Completes Cultural Service Project and Plans Initiation
April 16, 2009
The University of New Hampshire chapter of Pi Delta Phi, the French national honor society, has successfully completed its annual cultural service project and is now planning the initiation of new members.
The UNH chapter of Pi Delta Phi, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, selected the restoration of the municipal theater in Brienon-sur-Armançon, a small town in the province of Burgundy, in France, for its project. “The theater, built above the town hall in Brienon, opened its doors in 1836,” explained the honor society’s faculty advisor, Professor Barbara T. Cooper. “For the rest of the nineteenth century, performances of plays by major French dramatists were regularly staged in the small, 270-seat auditorium. By the beginning of the twentieth century, though, the theater fell into a state of disrepair and was left to the pigeons,” Cooper said. The site has now been beautifully restored.
Current and alumni members of the UNH chapter of Pi Delta Phi raised 525 euros (more than $700) through their annual raffle and from donations. Five chapter members studying at the University of Burgundy this semester contributed additional funds which they hand-delivered to the offices of the Fondation du Patrimoine (National Heritage Foundation) in Dijon. “The people there are really nice,” reports Pi Delta Phi initiate Bridget Farmer. “They showed me pictures of the theater and told me a little about the project, and how to visit the theater. They also said they were pleasantly surprised by our donation and are glad to see students taking an interest in things like this.”
The chapter will initiate its newly-elected student members on 30 April 2009. Those students to be initiated include: Laura Angers, Margarite Bechis, Sarah Brown, Rachel Cain, Bridget Farmer, Kyle Flynn, Samuel Mansfield, Erin Thesing, and Megan Thunberg.
Other members of the chapter, elected previously, include Claire Churchill, Guillaume Delloue, Carolyn Dempster, and Corey Sweeney.
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| Theater of Brienon before | and after its restoration |