French major earns second title in national foreign language video contest

Houston native Adrien Lavergne came to Baylor as an engineering major, but switched to computer science and then music before finding his niche in, of all places, French.

That journey of discovering the importance of learning a language besides French is the message behind the video below — Lavergne’s prize-winning entry in a national foreign language contest.

The piece was named one of six winners in the 2011 Vista Higher Learning Video Contest — Lavergne’s second win in a row, and the third straight year a Baylor student has been a top honoree. In 2009, Daniella Romero was recognized for her entry; last year, Romero and Lavergne each were among the six winners chosen from more than 200 entries.

“She [Romero], the girl who won last year and the year before last, and I both sat in the same row in class,” Lavergne says. “It was funny because it was a national competition, and two students from Texas, who were also from Baylor, who were also in the same class, who also sat in the same row, won.”

Lavergne’s 2011 video — which he scripted, stars in and even wrote original music for — is based on the idea that “Everything that you hear is limited by what you understand,” an interesting point that English-only speakers (like myself) often take for granted.

Sic ’em, Adrien!