We are excited to welcome our French Foreign Exchange students, who arrived from Lycée Andre Maurois in Rouen, France on Tuesday evening! They immediately jumped into their exchange experience, rehearsing and performing in the Nashoba Fall Choral Concert.
Within 24 hours of their arrival, they performed a moving set of three songs themed around World War II, the D-Day Landings, and resilience in the face of adversity, incorporating movement and unique staging into their performance. Nashoba Choir Director, Eric Miller, and his French counterpart, Céline Lecomte, also prepared both choirs to perform the French-Canadian folk song “J’entends le Moulin” ("I Hear the Windmill") in both English and French as the concert finale. It was a collaboration to remember, with excellent student musicality and cross-cultural exchange on full display.
This marks the return of our French Exchange program after eight years. This exchange involved extensive collaboration, both across departments and oceans, all with the aim of creating opportunities for students both in and beyond our French program. Thanks to strong partnerships between the Music and World Language Departments, and their French counterparts, 17 Nashoba students from the German, Choir, and French programs, along with 23 French exchange students, were able to participate.
Planning began last year with the selection of host families and participants, and over the summer, students connected through email and Zoom.
During their stay, our French exchange students will enjoy events like pizza parties, trips to Harvard University and Boston, and the opportunity to present a 40-minute "Freedom Prize" presentation to interested NRHS students. Most importantly, Robin Hermans, NRHS French teacher, emphasizes, “They’ll have the chance to walk in the steps of a Nashoba student.” In April, Nashoba students will have the same opportunity when they travel to Rouen, France.
