Honors French III class engages in exchange project

Charlotte Ehrlich

Sophomores Naia Urruty and Olivia Callander take notes while interviewing Jules His, a former exchange student from a Sacred Heart school in Nantes, France. Students were encouraged to speak to foreign exchange students to gain more personal information about their exchange experiences.

WEB EXCLUSIVE Honors French III students are working on a series of projects aiming to draw awareness to the international Sacred Heart Network’s exchange program.

“Ever since I’ve been here I’ve wanted to publicize the exchange program because it’s my strongest belief that you have to study abroad,” French teacher Heather Wells said. “It’s so important not only because it’s good for your language development, but because it’s an enjoyable experience.”

Groups of three to four students are filming videos, forming ambassador groups and writing informative guides in order to help inform the community about what the exchange program entails.

“We are making a brochure about the opportunities students can have when they want to visit a school in France,” sophomore Ella Ghazinouri said. “The brochure will include important information on how to find the application for the exchange and the exchange process itself.”

Wells encouraged students to think creatively and globally while researching for their prospective projects. In response, one group is interviewing past exchange students who have visited Convent & Stuart Hall from the Sacred Heart School in Nantes, France.

“Hearing from the perspective of a student who has previously done an exchange, it was easier to understand the process on a more personal level,” sophomore Olivia Callander said. “It added a more realistic viewpoint on what it would be like to study in another country.”

Through these various projects, the class hopes to encourage more participation in the exchange program, as well as to give the school community a more thorough sense of education in terms of the program itself.

“I named this project Coeur Unis which means united heart,” Wells said. “I would say that at the end of the day, the goal of this project is to come away with several ways to make the program better in terms of both inspiring people to go abroad and finding better ways to welcome people here.”