Americana! - Compass 2016

ﾂｩ MARJOLEIN MARTINOT

A M E R I C

A N A !

2015/16 ANNUAL REVIEW of the AMERICAN SECTION - LYCﾃ右 INTERNATIONAL de ST-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE

“After ten years in the American Section, a part of me feels American.

I love the country for its beauty and the people for their warmth and openness. Because of the Section’s strong American culture I feel at home in the United States and I adore going there.”

Zoe Desblancs 4ème

“I love the way they think in America.

I feel American because I was a part of it and America is still tucked inside me from my years in NYC. I feel honored to speak, write, read and understand it.”

Susie Legroux, CM2

“Though I do not have the American nationality nor have I lived in the country, I feel American concerning the values and traditions that I consider most Americans have (or at least people in the American Section have). I think that these values are emphasized in the American Section and I really admire that.

I am not criticizing the French system, but one of the things I enjoy the most in the American section is the academic ways of teaching.

It pushes us students to criticize in positive ways and to think for ourselves. “ Oriana Merer, 4ème

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ASALI-American Section of the Lycée International Rue du Fer à Cheval - C.S. 40118 78100 St. Germain en Laye, France Phone + 33 1 34 51 74 85 Fax + 33 1 39 10 94 04 www.americansection.org

4 Director’s Corner So what’s American about it?

The magazine is distributed without charge to current parents, alumni and former faculty and staff, and parents of alumni and other friends of the Section.

5 The Changing Face of the American Section

Director: Scot Hicks scot.hicks@americansection.org Editor: Margaret Jenkins margaret.jenkins@americansection.org Graphic design: Judy Loda, judylodadesign.com Printer: Imprimerie Jasson-Taboureau Contributors: Catherine Boalch, Clemence Bruguier, Risha Chopra, Tonio Colonna, Adrienne Covington, Véronique Echemann, Marco Fayet, Jean-Baptiste Fischer, Toscane Fischer, Nolwen Flajoliet, Mary Friel, Sacha Gauthey, Christopher Goethals, Michelle Green, Marie-Pascale Grimon, Beccy Haugen, Ben Heckscher, Scot Hicks, Joe Knoertzer, Naomie Laporte, Kate McCarthy, Antoine Rapin, Catherine Reed, Marius Schubert, Tracy Seeberg, Victoire Tefra, Nicolas Velez, Mike Whitacre.

Photography: Adrienne Covington, Lisa Demangeat, Michelle Green, Margaret Jenkins, Perrine Jouvet, Elisabeth Lazovic, Donna LeJoncour, Marjolein Martinot, John Mathieu, Regina Tardy.

Vol. 5, Number 1 Copyright 2016 by ASALI. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this magazine. If you have any questions, corrections or comments please contact the editor, Margaret Jenkins, at margaret.jenkins@americansection.org Founded in 1952, the American Section provides an American educational and cultural experience of exceptional quality within the unique context of the Lycée International, where 13 national sections are represented.

The American Section prepares students to become lifelong learners and global citizens by fostering intellectual curiosity and self-confidence that help students realize their full potential and developing students’ leadership abilities and sense of responsibility towards others. The American Section pursues this mission through a rigorous and rewarding American curriculum which culminates in the French Baccalaureate with International Option, as well as through a broad and enriching co-curricular program including such activities as drama, community service, sports and student publications.

Please address admissions inquiries to Director of Admissions, Mary Friel, at admissions@americansection.org.

6 Lower School Promoting American Culture in our School Thanksgiving 8 Middle School Emphasizing Americana in the classroom Cinquième Immigration Project

“The American Section has always been, and may it always be, that broad lap of an Alma Mater, that small place within a great school, where each and every one of our students will be

10 The Culture of Co-Curriculars 11 Delving into WWI 12 Faculty Voice The American Voice of Literature The Troisième Poetry Project 14 Upper School Thirteen National Anthems America and Americans in Section 16 Student Voice 2015 Summer Awards 20 Graduation - Class of 2015 22 Philanthropy in American Education 24 Development Report 32 Alumni Focus

encouraged and nurtured in freedom to come to herself, to himself.”

On the cover, back-cover and above: photos by Marjolein Martinot; Left: photo by Regina Tardy

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C So what’s American about it?

We have been trying to pin that one down ever since Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, in a move to become our Cato the Elder, published his Letters from an American Farmer in 1782. (Note that this early inquirer is a next of kin, a member of our largest demographic group in the American Section, having married the daughter of an American merchant, Mehitable Tippett, and raising three children on either side of the Atlantic.)

What then is the American, this new man?...He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He has become an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of man, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.

Americans are the western pilgrims.

Or, as early Massachusetts Bay Colony governor, John Winthrop, staded in his sermon of 1630: “wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us.” And so we were, famously, for Europeans in the 19th century like Alexis de Tocqueville or Charles Dickens, or in that famous gift of the people of France for our centenary that stands in New York Harbor, and still are to some extent, the repository of all the hopes, worries and disappointments that the rest of the world holds for this experiment we call America.

The image I like best is the homegrown one of Walt Whitman, the Open Road, that echoes throughout American life and art ever since. As our in-depth OIB poet Louis Simpson has it, The land is within.

At the end of the open road we come to ourselves.

The American Section has always been, and may it always be, that broad lap of an Alma Mater, that small place within a great school, where each and every one of our students will be encouraged and nurtured in freedom to come to herself, to himself. What sounds like a grand universal is in the reality of what we do in our classrooms and extracurricular activities much more particular to us. Yes, our curriculum seeks to provide our students a bilingual and bicultural American education in the sense meant by the French education ministry; but what we find distinguishes the American Option in discussions with the French to define our curriculum is precisely this personal construction of a culture. As our curriculum ends in an open road, so too our extracurricular activities, like Model United Nations and Human Rights Team, end by opening up to students from all sections and inviting our students to take on leadership roles in the world they inherit. And they do.

Scot Hicks Director

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The Changing Face of the American Section

The Lycée International opened its doors for the first time in 1952, with four international sections - American, British, Danish and German.

Since that time, ten further Sections have joined our unique and remarkable school, the latest one, the Chinese, as recently as September 2015.

As the Lycée developed and grew over the next six decades, so did the American Section, increasing considerably in size. We have evolved in a myriad of ways, while at the same time maintaining a welcoming spirit and imparting not only language, but the best of American culture throughout the years.

Baseball became the popular American Section sport in the 60s and still flourishes in and around St. Germain today.

Of course soccer has also become a favorite, with teams in our Lower, Middle and Upper schools playing intra-mural matches against other sections. Co-curricular activities such as Model United Nations, theater, Student Council, and Human Rights Team allow students to benefit from extracurricular activities as if they were in the United States. Of course, we share traditions such as Halloween and Thanksgiving with all our friends throughout our different campuses.

From the original 80 or so students, enrollment gradually increased to approximately 300 in September 1977 and then to 702, where it stands at present. We now include 56 different nationalities in the Section - a true melting pot - and a mirror of the United States today. The following countries are represented: Argentina,

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica,

Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Back in the 1970s or 1980s, the majority of our students were French or American (or both); from the mid-1990s through to 2005, 50% of the student body held American nationality, and today that has dropped to 32%. Only 7% of students now have two American parents.

However, statistics can be interpreted in many different ways, and the “Americanness” of our Section does not necessarily depend on nationality. Many French students who have lived for some years in the USA come back to France imbued with American culture, and help to keep the enthusiasm in the Section alive, engaging in many extra-curricular activities, such as India Exchange, yearbook, and Writing Fellows.

One very important thing has remained a constant, despite our evolving profile, is the American culture of volunteering.

Though most of our parents did not grow up in the United States, their implication in the Section rivals that of the best American schools. As they have since the beginning, dedicated parents give generously of their time to help promote activities and social events. This helps to foster a true American Section community within the confines of this extraordinary school - The Lycée International. The sum of the parts, French and American, is somehow greater than the whole.

Mary Friel Director of Admissions

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Promoting American Culture in our school When students enter an American Section classroom they are, for all practical purposes, disembarking on American soil. Our academic program is enriched throughout the year with authentic customs and traditions, including holidays and crafts, music, and dance. The curriculum stresses American English literature, expressions, vocabulary, and idioms.

Central to pedagogy is student participation, hands-on learning, and independent thinking. The goal is to swathe students in “America,” giving them a complete educational experience that far exceeds language learning.

Perhaps most apparent is the day-to-day learning that takes place in our classrooms, as it differs significantly from the neighboring French classroom. The curriculum is based on teachings and methods prevalent in the United States, such as the Columbia Teacher’s College reading program that is now utilized. Our teachers employ principles, pedagogy, and management strategies that mirror those found in most U.S. classrooms. From a very young age students complete hands-on projects that necessitate age-appropriate research and oral and written presentation skills. Independent thinking is emphasized -- students are encouraged to express their

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opinions and to become active learners by learning from their mistakes in an atmosphere of positive reinforcement.

Fourth grader Margaux Dorin states, “if you are not making mistakes you are not really learning. We make mistakes, and we learn from them. There are a lot of posters everywhere, like ones with reading and writing rules, just like in America.”

Indeed, our classroom bulletin boards burst with American student crafts and writing that cover both the latest trends in US teaching or the classic, never-grow-old activities that you enjoyed as a student those many years ago.

Our libraries expose students to American culture from a text-rich perspective. Literary classics by authors such as E. B. White, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, and Shel Silverstein feature prominently, as well as more contemporary works by authors such as Rick Riordan, Kate DiCamillo,and Mary Pope Osborne. Junior Fiction and picture books boast authors such as Mo Willems, Laura Numeroff, Patricia Polacco, and Dr. Seuss. The non-fiction collection supports the teaching of our American holidays and provides information for our various research projects, especially the United States geography travel guide in Fourth Grade and the Famous American

biography project in Fifth Grade. American published magazines, on-line databases, and access to American dictionaries and thesauri, round out the collection.

Virtually every month of the year has an American holiday tucked into it, serving as means to promote American culture in the classroom. Holidays are celebrated with traditional songs, poems, videos, and stories. In October, for instance, the entire Lower School prepares for Halloween, and everyone gets into the act of dressing up and playing spooky games. Over the River and Through the Woods echoes through the hallways of the Lower School in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We share Thanksgiving with our nonAmerican Section friends on all campuses via a traditional Thanksgiving lunch, complete with home-baked pies, and our fifth graders dress as Pilgrims and sing traditional Thanksgiving songs. Valentine’s Day is our ‘Hallmark’ occasion when students create and share handmade cards at each level and celebrate with a class party.

Holiday celebrations and other special programs also serve to promote values that are central to American society. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is commemorated throughout the American Section with a focus on racial equality, tolerance, respect, hopes, and dreams. These themes are reinforced during the year as part of our Character Education program. Our community service project of preparing and delivering Halloween treat bags to the Fondation d’Auteuil school, Ecole St. Charles in Le Vésinet, introduces children to the American philanthropic spirit of caring and giving, as did the school-wide read-a-thon our students participated in this fall.

Finally, popular culture is included whenever possible. Springtime has classes kicking up their heels in preparation for their end-of-year performances-- students learn popular American songs for the French chorale and Primary on Parade, and Pre-K students learn the Virginia Reel, a dance popular in the U.S. since the 1800’s. First graders on the Lycée campus wrap up the year by sporting their hand painted ‘flag’ t-shirts at their annual endof-year picnic.

These methods permit even students who are not American by birth to become not only bilingual, but bi-cultural as well. Fourth grader Felix Magnaval sums up it up: “When I am in the American Section, I feel like I am in P.S. 58! Then I leave the classroom and see that I am in St. Germain-en-Laye.”

Thanksgiving “Thanksgiving - a time to give thanks for all that we have.” Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday for the American Section - and Americans everywhere. A family gathering and turkey! In the American Section we always recognize the day, especially in Fifth Grade.

For 24 years, I have co-directed a Thanksgiving pageant.

Several years back, I actually had a direct descendant of William Bradford - William Sallembien - as a student (and then his brothers, and finally, his sister). His mother gave me the family tree (including names like Zipporah Bradford!), and so, our version Thanksgiving Theatrics came to be! It became a story about traveling back in time to the days of the Pilgrims.

Tom Turkey is the Master of Ceremonies, and is, of course, grateful that he (or she) lives in France, because Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday here, so turkeys - and their little gobblers - are safe!

Singing for the administration, kitchen help, and the faculty is a special part of the day, as well. We lead our young Pilgrims throughout the campus, singing various Thanksgiving songs and wishing everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving!”

Although we may not be in the United States with our families, we are surrounded by our Lycée family and share the holiday with them. The celebration becomes a fond memory for our fifth graders, and all who participate.

Kate McCarthy Lower School Teacher

Beccy Haugen Lower School PrincipalPrincipal AM E R IC A NA !

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Emphasizing Americana in the classroom The Spirit of Americana Shines I always want my students to feel as if they are walking right into the United States the moment they enter my classroom each day. Having realized myself that my own children, growing up in France, would not just automatically become fluent U.S. citizens both culturally and linguistically by having an American mom, I greatly appreciated the value of those precious six hours spent in an American Section class.

What does it mean to transmit “Americana” in the classroom?

Like a traditional patchwork quilt, it is threaded with American holiday spirit, a constant opportunity for student expression both oral and written, experiential learning, project building and teamwork to name a few.

Just for a start, do you know which food was NOT eaten at the first Thanksgiving celebration? Turkey, pumpkin pie or corn? Join my class and find out if you were right.

Staying in touch with American traditions and historic dates are important: we discuss the changes in the world since 9/11 on September 11, and debate the Native American controversy on Columbus Day. In early November, many students discover it is election day in the U.S.A. They try their luck on my Thanks-

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giving quiz on the fourth Thursday of November, and present their own research on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. American approaches to teaching include having the students experience what they are studying as closely as possible. My Sixièmes recently did just that ‐ donning the masks of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock and re‐enacting the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Secondes vividly remember learning to dance the Charleston in my class (yes, even the boys) after plunging into the Roaring Twenties world of The Great Gatsby.

The American age‐old tradition of “show and tell” becomes more sophisticated in Middle and Upper School, showcasing students’ talents and creativity whether it be getting into the skin of a character and performing a dramatic monologue, sharing their own poetry in our Quatrième Candlelight Poetry Project or becoming architects and mapping the utopian/ dystopian community of the protagonist in The Giver.

In the spirit of family and sharing, our Cinquième Memory Booklet Project, inspired by their reading of The Giver, encouraged my students to become serious interviewers of grandparents,

parents and siblings and to craft an inter‐generational family memory album. Some even gathered first-hand narratives of great‐grandfathers landing as GIs on the Normandy beaches.

As I was in the process of writing this article, I was curious to know how my own students viewed American approaches to teaching. I surveyed my Quatrième class about this and received such feedback as, “American class is like a second home, that nice familiar feeling, so welcoming.” “We are encouraged to ask questions, to get better grades and improve” or “grades are based on more than our performance on a test.” One student said he has developed a good relationship with his American Section teachers while another said, “Our American Section teachers really understand us, and we’re allowed to express what’s on our minds.”

When I witness my students exuding sparks of passion about what they are studying or expressing their curiosity,

Sixième Constitutional Convention

insight, imagination, and their vibrant sense of community, I know that through all of the teaching we do, projects students create, presentations, research, and writing, the spirit of American shines.

Michelle Green Middle and Upper School Literature teacher

Cinquième Immigration Project Every fall, American Section Cinquième students work hard to bring immigrant families to life. In doing so, they learn that history isn’t merely about events that took place in the past, but about the people that were there to experience them.

The project is an incredible journey for everyone involved. Students are organized in small groups, and each one is assigned a member of an immigrant family who really lived the experience of coming to America. These immigrants are selected from the passenger manifests available for viewing and download on the Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty website. Cinquièmes begin their journey by combing through the names and personal information of the passengers listed in these manifests. This leads to many astounding discoveries. From the Jewish family fleeing war-torn Austria to the English bricklayer going to Los Angeles to build the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, their immigrant families were all coming to America with hope in their hearts and the promise of prosperity and security.

Students then conduct research to determine the specific push and pull factors that played key roles in their family’s choice to emigrate. They discover facts about family dynamics and job prospects, as well as the complications of a three-week ocean voyage for people with limited means. They investigate the harsh reality of tenement living, difficult working conditions and dealing with existing prejudice. Through this they are able to gain a greater understanding of what it must have been like for their immigrant.

Each family group then compiles a scrapbook from the perspectives of their immigrant counterparts. These include diary entries that are based in fact and include information about the ship they traveled on, what conditions were like in steerage and the length of the voyage, and all aspects of resettlement and integration.

The students get creative, as they must include drawings, artifacts and maps. They are granted artistic license when describing the feelings of their character, and are able to imagine what it must have been like for that brave individual who lived, laughed, cried, hoped and dreamed one hundred years ago.

The capstone is an immigration presentation, when students dress as their characters and present their scrapbooks and newfound knowledge to family, teachers and administrators at a celebratory open house.

Tracy Seeberg Middle School History Teacher

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CULTURE in Co-curriculars

The American Section prides itself on offering a wide range of co-curricular activities to its students.

Co-curricular activities have an immensely positive impact on student life: they strengthen the bonds between students, they provide a space in which they can temporarily escape the pressures of studying at as demanding (and rewarding, of course) an institution as the Lycée International, and they allow students to become well-rounded, conscientious individuals who possess an extremely broad set of skills and who have already proven, by the time

they reach the end of their high school careers, that they have the necessary motivation and dedication to succeed in today’s world. Co-curricular activities are a central part of American education.

What may be less clear, however, is how such activities can be instrumental in connecting students to the culture of the United States. How does the American Section use co-curriculars to provide its pupils with opportunities to create or maintain bonds with American culture?

Throughout its existence as an independent nation, the United States has embraced the democratic ideal; the notion that all individuals within a given community possess the right to express themselves freely. Their right to defend their respective beliefs and opinions has remained a pillar of American cultural identity. Student 10

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Council and Model United Nations offer students a platform on which to engage with one another within a democratic context, debating issues that are important locally and globally. Students also learn to become leaders in their academic environment and develop sensitivity to others through the Section’s numerous humanitarian projects, such as Human Rights Team, the India Exchange or Community Service, and become actively involved in the international community.

Yearbook, meanwhile, fosters a sense of community not only among the students who work to bring it to completion, but also among the members of the Section as a whole.

One of America’s distinguishing traits has always been the strong sense of community that exists among its citizens. Whether an American lives in a sprawling metropolis or a small town, he or she will most likely be touched -with the exception of some, of course - by a congeniality that thrives on being part of a larger group that shares his or her cultural values. There is also a unique humor and friendliness that I have observed in Americans of all ethnic and social backgrounds, which I was always delighted to encounter upon perusing the pages of the yearbook when I was a Lycée student.The Writing Fellows program espouses these values in a different way, demonstrating to the Fellows and the peers they coach, that students in and outside the classroom often make the best teachers.

Our theater programs, finally,

most often stage productions of specifically American plays and movies or with American cultural references (in past years, Edward Scissorhands, The Crucible, Some Like it Hot; this year, What Did You Say?, The Princess Bride and The Grapes of Wrath), familiarizing students and audience members with American theater, literature, and film. Having consistently participated in the Section’s productions from Troisième to Terminale (1999 to 2003), I can personally testify that theater gave me the opportunity to discover a side of American culture that is often forgotten in the age of Hollywood blockbusters.

To measure the full cultural impact and importance of our co-curriculars, one should imagine Section life and identity without them; our alumni, parents, current students and French colleagues all associate these community building activities as an indelible trademark of the American Section.

Tonio Colonna ‘03 Middle and Upper School English

Delving into WWI

One aspect of Americana in the classroom of which the Section is particularly proud is its conviction that hands-on projects empower kids’ imaginations, triggering deep, lasting learning.

The American Section History teachers are engaged in the perpetual pursuit of making historical events come alive via fun, American-style hands-on learning experiences that simultaneously allow students to develop their reading, writing and speaking skills. This year’s World War I Memory Project combined all of the above--requiring students to create an authentic primary source correspondence that illustrated the horrors of the First World War, as if written by someone who had actually lived during that tumultuous time.

Our Troisièmes first drafted a letter written by a character drawn from their imagination--a soldier, a mother, a wife or a fiancée, using their October class trip to the Musée de la Grande Guerre in Meaux for concrete inspiration.

The letters were then redistributed anonymously to classmates. Recipients were instructed to assume the role of the person to whom the primary source letter was addressed and anonymously draft a response, authentic in look, feel and context.

As the accompanying photos should reveal, the level of student engagement was impressive indeed. Both the initial letter--and the primary source response that accompanied it, were exceptional for their attention to detail and historical truth.

Adrienne Covington Middle School Principal

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The American Voice of Literature Heading towards my classroom down the hallway, I see my students gathering outside the door of Room 311. I ask them how they are, what they did on the weekend, what they had for lunch, where they go to get that spiffy haircut. Before I “teach in an American way,” I am an American teacher. My conversation with my students goes from the hallway into the classroom and back again from the time we first meet on field trips, in advisory, in class or at some Section event. I expect genuine answers from my students—about their lives, about the small things that matter to them and, especially, the greater ideas occupying their minds. When we enter the classroom, I often hand over the discussion to them. Happily, the classes are small, much smaller than those of my French colleagues.

When my students learn about French literature, they are in a pack of thirty six or thirty seven. With me, there are just twenty of them. For Terminale, we have the luxury for groups of fourteen or fifteen. There is no hiding in there; everyone contributes to the daily take. The success of the class, the work they get done, depends on them as much as it depends on me.

We are making a community together.

My students rarely just listen to me for the hour. They are in groups or in pairs with a set of questions or a task. When it is a play (one they have written or one they are reading), they are on their feet. A recent project for my Premières was to find three passages they like in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The first needed to be connected to a theme that we have been discussing. The second was to be an example of Morrison’s stylistic strategies to convey meaning.

The last, and for me, the most important, was to choose a passage that spoke to them personally at this moment. Then they talked about those choices.

They are people first and students second. Though my French colleagues care deeply about the wellbeing of their students, they do not always take the extra step of asking students to link the text to their own lives. The cours in the American Section is led by the teacher, but made real, vital and lasting by the students themselves.

Students must think for themselves in our English classrooms. They do this by working through the texts with pens, talking through complicated passages with each other and then defending their ideas with evidence. Ideas fly, but rigor wins the day. Our kids also write personally about things that actually matter to them. They are often asked to take out a piece of paper in class to write what they think on the topic at hand or to “free write” about whatever is on their minds. They are invited, always, to take risks. Far from this being in addition to preparing

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the ENL Bac, this is now at the heart of the test. With the encouragement of the French authorities in Education Nationale, we have written a new creative writing portion for the ENL Bac which all students in the American Option world-wide may choose. The inspecteurs who shepherded our proposal into the Bulletin Officiel are a long-time admirers of Americanstyle personal and creative writing and agree with us that teaching young people to use their own content (their lives and experiences), in addition to the teacher’s (Hamlet, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby) elicits the most meaningful work.

Our classrooms are noisy. We do not mind. On our teacher peer evaluation forms, we assess each other for our ability to engage in a genuine way with every student every day during the discussions. Another goal is to be sure to make the material relevant to our students’ lives. At the end of each ENL hour, we hope, everyone knows not just the texts, but each other and themselves a little better.

The gap between what we do and what our French colleagues do is shrinking. When I asked my friend who teaches French literature here at the Lycée what the differences are between us, she said that though there are new initiatives in the recent French school reforms to get kids talking in class, not everyone is for that and prefer the cours magistral. In our classes, the students do most of the talking—and not just about the traditional texts.

Our students write autobiographically all year. To be admitted to college in the States, they must write an autobiographical essay that will perfectly convey who they are and wish to become. (Applying to the U.K. also requires some expertise in personal writing and a knack for depicting oneself on paper.) They compare widely varying texts every single day for the last two years in ENL. All four essay questions on the Bac are comparative in nature. To answer questions such as “How does the past influence the present?” or “ What is the role of setting in a text?” or “How does a poem’s structure influence its meaning?” students can choose Shakespeare’s Hamlet with our modern poet, Louis Simpson or they could use Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day with Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. Their readings of the texts are so deep and personal that points of comparison come naturally. This is an American view; idées recues are less exciting than what a young writer can come up with him or herself. They are rewarded in class and on the Bac for fresh and original thinking.

Of course, the obvious American aspect of our program is how much of it comes through the literature we teach. Though we model our curriculum on those of the top US schools, and those include texts which were not written by American authors, the bulk of our works are now American. The transmission of culture is palpable when we talk about the American dream in Death of a Salesman or the urban landscapes of The Great Gatsby. It is there when we read poems aloud with the regional accents we do hear in them. It is in our parsing through the poetry of slavery or the depiction of American independent schools or courtrooms or streetcars or wooden houses by the sea. However, I truly do not think that it is merely teaching about how America itself comes through our literature that matters most to our students in American ENL classrooms. Any good teacher from any country can learn to do that. In the American Section, the teachers are American. Our way of talking to the kids, of expecting them to talk back, of requiring them to forge a strong, public self in high school—one with attitudes, opinions, imagination and wisdom that can be expressed aloud and on the page—is something that is uniquely ours. It is what makes us different from our colleagues from other cultures and it is what makes our kids feel that while they were here, we really knew them. We did --and we do.

Catherine Reed, Head of English

The Troisième Poetry Project One of the chief missions of the American Section’s high school English Department is to make teenagers fall in love with reading. To do that they must have lots of practice and read books that appeal to them. Though we may not turn every kid into an avid reader, most graduate feeling that we taught them to be confident, capable and enthusiastic literary critics. Of all of the genres that we teach, perhaps poetry is the most challenging to pitch to our skeptics. It takes a LOT of practice to learn to love poetry. Our Troisieme Brevet project is our first crack at the task.

Several years ago, the ENL Brevet went from being a written to an oral exam and one which would be evaluated by ENL teachers in class. The decision was made by all Section ENL Department Heads that we would focus on the poetry of our respective cultures.

The Troisieme Poetry Project has grown in all kinds of ways. What has remained the same is the focus: a twenty-minute oral presentation of ten poems chosen by each student on his her favorite theme.

Every poem is written by an American, but beyond that students have free choice.

Themes have ranged from animals to war, from love to the shore, from food to family. Students use our extensive single-volume poetry collections in the CDI, but they also go online to search for American poems.

They make beautfiful portfolios from these poems and become experts on each piece. As they do for the Art History Brevet, students prepare in-depth commentaries for a few of their favorite pieces and prepare to give a rationale for their selections. In recent years, students have also written poems on the theme they chose and in the style of some of the poets represented in their collections. When these students have finished this project, we hope that they have had that first initial dose of serious poetry reading and that the chances for really falling in love with poetry are that much better. They have certainly taken a big step toward the work they will do for the ENL Bac. They have also learned to properly read and analyze a poem and to understand how a country’s poems say something very important and special about its spirit, nature and values.

Catherine Reed Head of English

AME R IC A NA !

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Thirteen National Anthems Students at the Lycée International are uniquely lucky to be exposed to thirteen other nationalities, cultures and languages. Pedagogically, however, it seems that we could do more to draw advantage from it. About a year ago, some of the Upper School section faculty got together to talk about developing cross-section projects. In Seconde, we settled on a project based on National Anthems: the idea would be for each section to devote some class and homework time to building a presentation that would explain the content and history of their national anthem. They would then present these to students in other sections.

Last January, the sections whose curricula and class-times permitted set aside their history class time to these presentations. Each class was split into groups, and these groups were sent to other section classrooms, so that the German teacher might have a classroom with groups from the American, Spanish or Japanese sections. The class period consisted of a series of presentations on each country’s anthem.

The braver students sang their anthem; the more timid played a YouTube video or brought along little speakers and a smartphone. Groups then offered a general translation and discussion of their anthem, a short history of its adoption, and any controversies surrounding its use. The Marseillaise’s enjoinder to water our fields with the blood of our enemies did not pass unnoticed, nor did the Star-Spangled Banner‘s music’s history as a British drinking song!

The project was very promising, and received universally positive reviews from the students involved.

We’re trying to relaunch the project this year - if we can navigate the complicated scheduling issues involved - and work towards a portfolio of projects that take advantage of the uniquely international nature of our school.

Ben Heckscher Upper School History Teacher

14

C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E

“Being American is not an accent, it’s not a flag, it’s a concept. I have never felt so close to a country or to a people while being so far away from it; I truly feel like it is somewhere I belong. I have never been to the United States but this shows just how much the American Section of the Lycée International makes you feel part of something big, wherever you’re from.”

Mila Narjollet, Seconde

U

S

America and Americans in Section When I taught U.S. History in Seconde, I often started out vast program students learn about the U.S. coming out of the year by telling students about a quote I read years ago, in its isolationist past in World War II, its role in the Cold War the American magazine Harper’s: “Americans love France and beyond, and its domestic history from Franklin Delano but not the French, while the French love Americans but Roosevelt to Barack Obama. Not only might these themes not America.” appear on the International Option Baccalaureate exam, I used that as a springboard for students to discuss their but they provide our students with a greater perception of impressions of America and Americans. We moved on to America and Americans. Although the result gained on the lay a conceptual foundation of “American identity” in our History/Geography bac is a focus, I can confidently say that yearlong study of American History. To receive their free- graduating students leave the Lycée International knowing write essays (an American exercise in and of itself) and read more about the U.S. than the majority of their counterparts their impressions, both positive and negative, was always on the other side of the Atlantic. Time and time again, I’ll interesting. Many of them based their initial ideas on visits to hear this verified from an alumnus after spending a freshman the U.S., periods of U.S. residency, or from images broadcast year in an American university. in the media. Through looking at events from While I have provided the ENH perspective, the American Revolution to the Progressive “What do I most appreciate these themes naturally recur with my Era of Teddy Roosevelt, students were about the American Section? colleagues in Section Literature classes. ENL encouraged to explore historical reasons teachers cannot avoid literary references Being surrounded by why we (us, Americans) are the way we and symbolism that are distinctly American people from so many are. Why are so many Americans adamant when students study such works as The about guarding the Second Amendment different cultures all trying Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, A right to bear arms? Why is the Pledge of Streetcar Named Desire, or in reading the to work together with Allegiance with “one nation under God” poetry of Louis Simpson. positive spirit in such an said in many schools at the start of the day?

In addition to content, many of us consciously Why is the national anthem sung before open­-minded environment.” “play up” the American pedagogical attitudes Milan Banerjee, Terminale baseball games with fans holding their hands in our method of teaching. There is much over their hearts while looking at the flag? interaction between students and teachers Why are many Americans “one issue voters” when it comes in a milieu of reciprocal learning. A pat on the back is more to divisive issues like gun control and abortion? Where lie likely than a chop at the knees. The glass is usually half-full, the roots of the rugged individual who can make it on his and encouragement is abundant. Creativity, critical thinking, own without “government interference” in pursuit of the individual interpretations, group work, and the use of chrome American Dream? Why does innovation and entrepreneur- books in class are all a part of the Americana students receive ship feature so prominently in the nation’s brief history? After in Section. I often say how fortunate they are to be in a school Seconde, a student will have a historical frame of reference where the effortless navigation between two cultures is normal. when looking at these questions. It is the stuff that fascinates It is more remarkable than one may think. While still nurturing a French philosopher like Bernard Henri Lévy and intrigued the concept of global citizenship, a thread of Americana cannot Alexis de Tocqueville almost two centuries ago. help but be woven into the fabric of our students’ futures.

In Terminale students once again study the United States. They take with them the best of both worlds…spoken as a In that year we look at modern world history since World true American looking at the glass half-full.

War II and in the geography portion of the program we look at the characteristics of American superpower ranging Mike Whitacre, from military to economic to soft power influence. In that Upper School Principal

AME R I C A N A !

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S

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2015 Summer Awards I was 16 when I went overseas on my own for the first time, trading another sweltering summer in my staid Boston suburb for the stately ancient (to us) colleges of Cambridge.

It was the beginning of my love affair with Europe, and with English literature.

Though the ‘eternal’ friendships I swore did not last in that pre-Facebook era, the poems we studied and the plays we watched remain fresh in my memory more than 20 years later.

Our Summer Awards programs, initiated eight years ago, are designed to ensure that our students can benefit from the same kinds of transformative experiences. Though they are far more worldly than I was at their age, the all-consuming lycée program here gives them little free time to explore their interests, academic or creative, outside the curriculum.

They also have fewer opportunities for community service here, a key component of the U.S. high school experience.

Our Global Citizens and Summer Scholars get the chance to travel on their own, while immersing themselves in a subject of interest or a service project of their own devising. Their incredibly diverse projects not only enable them to grow as individuals, they help our students discover what they want to do after they have their “bac en poche.”

I hope you’ll enjoy reading about their amazing experiences, and that younger students will find inspiration for their own future projects.

Catherine Boalch University Counselor

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C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E

Back: Antoine Rapin, Toscane Fischer, Naomi Laporte, Marius Schubert, Front: Victoire Tefra, Clemence Bruguier, Sacha Gauthey, Nicolas Velez, Jean-­Baptiste Fischer

SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD

Art & Design at Pratt Insititute Universities with art programs have been a subject of interest for me ever since I have been looking into schools to apply to. Studying art and design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn over the summer seemed suitable for me, as both the tuition and location were helpful and inspiring to my further learning in this domain. Over the month of July, my classes made me explore the various fields of art and design such as industrial design, graphic design and art foundation, yet half of the learning experience was taking place outside the classroom.

As I arrived on campus, I realized that this would be one of the rare occasions where I would easily fit in with the other students. Most weren’t even from New York state, nor had the same skill level, yet we all shared an enthusiasm for studying art. Conversations were effortless and the interactions I had with others appeared extremely beneficial to my learning curve. It was interesting to meet people with the same taste in art, music, clothing and so forth.

Elective and Foundation classes taught me how to better my creative process and technique, while Art History and Portfolio Development courses helped me expand my artistic knowledge and art appreciation.

Pratt Institute is comprised of different buildings, each with its own specific field of study. A computer lab and library were available to students for graphic design or simply to read a book. Activities were available to students on weekends and free time was mostly spent on finishing homework.

Staying in a cultural capital for four weeks taught me how to become more productive and creative, while trips to museums and meeting other young adults in the same boat as me helped me discover what I like the most. The summer arts program made available by Pratt Institute improved my mentality and mindset and helped me find a path I will most likely follow in the near future.

Antoine Rapin, Terminale

G LOBAL CIT I ZEN AWARD

Teaching in Ahmedabad, India

How to describe our month-­long volunteer service trip in India in just a few words?

Picture three 17 year old lycée boys in the middle of a country with 1.3 billion inhabitants (during the monsoon season), whose culture and life is radically different from what they know.

Everywhere we went in India, we were surrounded by an overwhelming number of people, each wanting to greet us and exchange a couple of simple, small talk sentences. We served the community by volunteering in an Ahmedabad slum, in a center where we taught English and math to 8­-16 year old kids with nothing to their names apart from a couple of t­-shirts, a pair of pants and, sometimes, shoes. The gap between these kids and ourselves was huge, and one of the greatest challenges for us was to minimize this gap and to try to live more simply. To reach the center, we had to cross the slum on foot and see all the poverty surrounding us. We discovered how extremely poor people could be even happier than the more privileged people we knew back at home. This lesson still serves us today as we try to live humbly, an approach promoted by Ghandi and Manav Sadhna, the NGO with which we served.

The greatest challenge we faced was communication. We spoke sign language with all of those who didn’t speak English. So, teaching math was much easier than English, especially with smaller kids. We adapted (a skill vital in India, since nothing is ever for sure) and successfully brought what we could to those kids. We came with the intention to solve problems that we as individuals were not able solve. Still, we did what we could, and found new ways to teach. For instance, we created a class in the evening where we took kids of all ages who had trouble with math. We taught kids our age the difference between addition and mutiplication.

When we came back, our perception of things was different. This might sound cheesy, but it’s the truth.

We had been humbled by these kids and our opening to this new culture made us more tolerant people.

After having seen some shocking things, like people living in flooded houses or next to a giant open­-air sewer, we came out more mature, and can now more fully understand how lucky we are to have been born and raised here. Finally, we would like to thank the American Section and our parents, without whom this whole experience would have never been possible.

Sacha Gauthey, Nicolas Velez, Jean-­Baptiste Fischer, Terminale

SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD

Marine Biology in Borneo

During five weeks over the summer, I took part in a conservation project led by the Tropical Research and Conservation Center (TRACC) situated on a desert island off the tip of Borneo, Malaysia. TRACC’s aim is to restore and maintain the marine life and biodiversity in the area.

Blast fishing is an effective yet devastating technique used by fishers, which consists of throwing dynamite into the ocean and collecting the dead fish. Even though the practice has been outlawed in Malaysia, it is still frequently used. Not only does blast fishing devastate marine life, but it also destroys the landscape, making it impossible for most marine life to thrive. This is a problem in the area where TRACC is situated. The combination of blast fishing and terrible pollution creates a nightmarish ecosystem for marine life.

Volunteers help to restore the ecosystem by artificially building the reef back up to allow coral and other marine life to return to the area. They do so by diving three times a day, building underwater structures, planting coral, nursing coral, surveying

marine life in the area, controling animal population for destructive marine life, going on turtle walks at night to make sure the eggs laid by the turtles on shore are not poached, and cleaning up the beach.

I wanted to participate in this project because I was already interested in studying marine biology and loved diving. The five weeks I spent there really confirmed me wanting to study marine biology, as I learned so much about marine life whilst contributing to enabling it to exist. I also gained a new appreciation for how important it is for us to take care of our oceans because even the smallest amount of pollution can cause horrible consequences for its inhabitants. I was also able to come into contact with locals in the area and discover a new culture.

My participation in this project was a life changing experience that I would highly recommend for anyone fascinated by the ocean or the sport of diving. I would like to thank the Amercian Section for allowing me to have that experience.

Marius Schubert, Terminale

AME R I C A N A !

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SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD

Studying Medicine in Argentina

18

My two­-week trip to Córdoba, Argentina was definitely a remarkable opportunity to discover the medical world and health system in a developing country. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to shadow doctors in different clinics and hospitals for five or six hours every day was, crazy as it may seem, a dream for me.

I spent my time running around numerous hospital departments, ranging from pediatrics to dermatology to oncology, traumatology and, of course, surgery. I was able to attend a Caesarian section, a knee reconstruction and also the removal of a kidney tumor. Doctors explained with simplicity treatments and diagnoses of the different patients and would often take time to deepen my basic knowledge of medicine between appointments with their patients. I also had the opportunity to visit an anatomy museum. This visit was led by medical students who provided me with an abundance of information about the human body. I then dissected a corpse, which is certainly the most advantageous way to learn about internal organs. I ended my dissection by learning how to stitch on the body.

Additionally, lectures were held by doctors covering topics such as “What makes a good doctor?” or “Health Systems around the World.” I also attended a first aid workshop.

However, my time in Argentina was not limited to learning about medicine.

My days were punctuated by a two-­hour Spanish class which dramatically improved my fluency. During the weekend, I visited Che Guevara’s house in Alta Gracia, went zip­-lining in the mountains and visited Córdoba. On the last day, I went to a local school where I taught fifth graders about dental hygiene. I stayed with a local family who gave me a great taste of Argentina’s culture; from eating empanadas to drinking a local tea called “mate” and of course, who made me cheer for Argentina during the finals of the Copa América against Chile. Overall, this trip confirmed my choice of a career in medicine and pediatrics in particular. For me, this branch of medicine seems to be full of optimism.

On top of it, I loved the bond doctors created with kids and babies within a single minute. I think I would feel more comfortable working with kids than adults. Finally, traveling to Latin America made me want to return and to visit more. To sum it up, my experience in Argentina was a once­in­a ­lifetime journey.

Girls’ education is a right, and I consider it a duty as an educated young women. Courons pour l’Education is a charity that I created with friends that share the same passion: advocating girls’ education through running. It came to life in February 2015, and thanks to the Community Service Award, I was able to make it a reality. We are partnered with the non-profit organization “Toutes à l’Ecole” that has built a school in Cambodia, called Happy Chandara, for girls from difficult backgrounds to receive an education. Indeed, girls have the potential to change the world, but they often don’t have the chance to.

We train every Sunday together, as a team, in the park de Saint-Germain-en-Laye to practice and improve our running.

We created a website for our organization, and social media links on Instagram and Facebook for people to follow and support girls’ education: http://couronspourleducat.wix.com/courons-education.

We are trying to spread the word and bring awareness to our community, and beyond.

As I want this to be a community project, I created shirts for our joining members, thanks to the money I won through the Community Service Award. I proudly carried 30 shirts in my carry-on back to France from the U.S.: motivation and dedication are the two words that I live by, as I did spend more than 20 hours creating the shirts. And those efforts were more than fruitful, as there are now more than 40 members! I am currently recreating shirts, as this is so popular!

We have also worked hard to bring awareness to our community starting with our school, and thanks to the Community Service Award this has been made possible. For example, after talking with Mrs. Green in charge of the Human Rights team, Courons pour l’Education became the guest speaker at their film festival in March, as they were debating Women’s Rights. Many peers wanted to run with us on the next Sunday at the end of the meeting, which means that we achieved our elementary goals: awareness, and action. Also, this September 2015, Courons pour l’Education had its own table at the annual American Section Picnic, which was the occasion for new members to officially join: it was a fantastic kick-off event with 19 new members from all different age groups! We also raised an enormous amount thanks to the community’s donations that day. We are now closer to reach our goal of 650€ which represents a year’s worth of tuition for one girl at Happy Chandera.

RUN for girls’ education, and make an impact on your community: join us!

Victoire Tefra, Première

Clemence Bruguier, Première

C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E

CO M M UN I T Y S ERV I CE AWARD

Courons pour L’Education

GLOBAL C I TI ZEN AWARD

After travelling to India as part of the cultural and humanitarian exchange program with the Mahatma Gandhi International School and learning so much from this rewarding experience, we decided to build our own project and devote our time and energy to help others. In our privileged environment it is easy to take things for granted, so it was important to take some time away from our everyday lives to give to the ones who aren’t as lucky as us. On top of this we felt ready to live our own little adventure.

Haiti turned out to be the ideal place to help. Cap Haitian is the country’s second biggest city. Even though Cap Haitian was not hit as badly as the capital in the 2010 earthquake, the city still faces major economic, social, and political problems. The country’s education system and infrastructures are not yet extremely developed.

We volunteered at a school affiliated with Manusodany, the CIS, in Petit Anse. We arrived at the school at 8am and worked with about twenty children of all ages. On a same day, some were as young as three and others were as old as seventeen! We learned to not divide the class by age but by their very heterogeneous levels, since sometimes eight year olds knew how to read a little while fifteen year olds did not know their alphabets.

We worked mornings, as the school closes at 1pm. Our mornings were divided in two: from 8:30 to 10:30 we did ‘soutien scolaire’, and from 11 to 1 we did arts and crafts and activities. During the soutien scolaire, we taught numbers,

Teaching in Haiti

the alphabet, math with simple additions, subtractions and even sometimes multiplications and other basics. During the “activity” time the kids made t-shirts, ‘foulards’, masks and paintings. They danced, we taught them songs, drew colorful alphabets and big numbers to hang on the school’s walls etc…

Another important part of our trip was discovering a new culture. For example, we visited the citadel and were lucky to have our guide be the former Minister of Culture who gave us a detailed overview of the country’s history. He even played for us a traditional Haitian song on his flute!

Of course we also had typical Haitian food everyday, mostly fresh fish made in different ways, rice with vegetables, or fried bananas, and we also discovered a spicy version of peanut butter.

This adventure was so enriching because we learned to become more independent, we discovered a new culture, we taught children, we got to know ourselves and each other better, we created unforgettable memories. Above all, this was a defining experience in our teenage lives which helped us mature and understand how the world functions and how to better interact with it.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the American Section for supporting and funding our project and being part of an experience we will always cherish.

Toscane Fischer & Naomi Laporte, Terminale

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G R A D U A T I O N Except from the Faculty Address “…Each of you has been living in at least two cultures, even those of you who have two French parents. A big part of you is American because of the eight hours of class time and the many more hours more you have spent playing music together, hanging out together, traveling together, worrying about, looking out for and loving people in this American Section. Sometimes, I know that you wish you could just choose one thing, one voice, one person to be, one country to live in. I hate to break it to you, but it ain’t going to happen. You are never going to feel like, okay, this is the one place I am meant to be and I am this one thing.

You are multiple. And it is your duty to yourself, your family, the world, to bring that amazing self to its best possible use…”

How will you know which way to go? You will. Listen for it.

It is your life calling.

It is your life’s calling.

Catherine Reed Head of English

Excerpts from the Student Address “…Those of you going to England will have to explain with hard-earned distain that no, you didn’t study three subjects in high school, you studied ten. In America you’ll have to give up on explaining how education here works and just explain that no, you didn’t even go to prom in a limo. Those of you staying in France will have to explain that yes, you are bilingual: you’re not just a very good LV1 student. We’ll all be blamed at some point for either the American or French government, we’ll all be pointed at when someone makes a reference to the other culture. When we go to France, we’re American, and when we go to America, we’re French…” “…Our teachers have sprinkled on us the “Lycée Inter” American Section spice, a spice born from each and every one of our learning experiences and hailing from all four corners of the world, which as a whole makes the LI flavor. At times our days at the LI did seem so spicy that that spice seemed to overpower any other good flavors. At times it burnt our tongues so badly that we never wanted to taste it again. But our blood, sweat and tears have finally produced their fruit: the Bac, a freshly baked apple pie made scrumptious by that special spice, which we are even now finally tasting. But just as we are finally appreciating that spice for all it’s worth, that pie will be gone forever.

However, as we all set out into the wide world, let’s not forget our jar of American Section spice. Because in our respective futures we’ll miss that spice and want to sprinkle it on everyone we meet. Let that spice always be a reminder not only that we have the ability to succeed, but that we have the power and the duty to change the world for the better…”

Bilal Choho ‘15 and Julia Dakhlia ‘15

Class of 2015 20

C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E

University Destinations Class of 2015 CANADA (3) McGill University University of British Columbia University of Toronto FRANCE (11) Ecole National Supérieur d’Architecture Intégrale Lycée Danielou (prépa) Lycée Janson de Sailly (prépa) Lycée Jeanne d’Albret (prépa) Lycée Lakanal (prépa) Lycée Stanislas (2) (prépa) Lycée Ste. Geneviève (prépa) Université de Paris Sorbonne UTC Compiègne HOLLAND (4) Erasmus School of Management (2) University of Leiden University of Maastricht

Class of 2015 Baccalauréat Results S

ES

L

TOTAL

%

Très bien

12

10

3

25

40%

Bien

19

6

4

29

47%

Assez bien

5

1

1

7

11%

passable

0

1

0

1

2%

36

18

8

62

ITALY (1) Università Bocconi SINGAPORE (2) ESSEC (2) SWITZERLAND (1) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Evolution of mention rates 2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Très bien

49%

44%

31%

25%

16%

20%

28%

22%

Bien

39%

37%

56%

36%

38%

44%

39%

39%

Assez bien

10%

19%

9%

24%

37%

32%

30%

32%

Passable

2%

0%

4%

15%

10%

3%

4%

7%

Evolution of University Destinations 2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

9 Year Total

USA

15

10

14

14

17

16

20

14

18

138

France

11

8

16

23

10

17

17

17

17

136

England

25

17

9

4

22

18

10

15

14

134

Canada

3

2

8

5

5

6

7

9

4

49

Netherlands

4

4

4

3

1

2

1

1

20

2

2

2

2

9

3

1

1

1

7

1

2

1

Gap Year Switzerland

1

Ireland Italy

1

Scotland Singapore

1 1

1

6 1

1 1

1

1

3

2

2

Belgium

1

Australia New Zealand

3

1 1

1 1 1

United Kingdom (25) University of Birmingham University of Bristol University of Cambridge University of Durham University of Essex/ Nanterre University of Exeter University of Leeds University of London Imperial College King’s College (5) King’s College/ Sorbonne Queen Mary University College (3) University of Reading University of Southampton (3) University of Warwick (2) University of York United States of America (15) Berklee College of Music Boston University Duke University Loyola University Middlebury College Northeastern University Pomona College (2) Rhodes College Stanford University University of California-Berkeley University of Washington Wellesley College Wesleyan University Whitman College

AME R I C A N A !

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PHILANTHROPY in American Education

It is fitting that my contribution to this issue of Compass lies between the academic and fundraising portions of the magazine, because in American school culture, the two are rarely far apart. For those of you who have experienced school life in the United States, you would have witnessed first-hand the attitude that fundraising is not taboo on campus.

Most surely, at some point or another, you would have given your child pocket money to purchase bake sale goodies to fund an activity or school trip or purchased a page in the yearbook to help defray the costs of its publication.

Our belief in the value of fundraising here in the American Section is just as fervent despite the challenges that lie in the path of our good intentions. For one thing, traditions such as bake sales are not allowed in French schools. I perfectly understand--and even support--this rule, designed to insure that the tenets of an egalitarian French education are maintained, with no distinction drawn amongst students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. On the other hand, fundraising is part of American culture. How can we support the culture of philanthropy that exists in our Section without compromising the values of the République?

First, we have our community-at-large to thank for its open heart and generosity. We aim to create bilingual and bicultural students, schooled in all things American. However, it is clear that the message of generosity starts at home, for which my colleagues and I are truly grateful. For each and every initiative we have set in place, our parent and student community has responded with enthusiasm, open hearts and open mindedness. The Section’s picnic, our kick-off 22

C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E

“I believe that even if I don’t possess American citizenship, I can still understand and appreciate an American’s values : what makes me feel American is the enthusiasm that is present in all classes, even at 5:30 on Fridays, the encouraging smiles and rounds of applause, but also the diligence with which all students work, the wise reflections and open­mindedness.”

social event of the year, is a fine case in point. Notable Section organizations such as the Human Rights Team depend on the money raised from selling drinks to fund their activity during the year, the most important of which is the annual film festival that reaches out to both Middle and Upper Schoolers alike. This past year’s read-a-thon in which students, both young and old, sought sponsorship Juliette Odolant, 3ème for every minute they read, raised money to build libraries in Nepal. Some may balk at such an idea--but that is missing the point. The fundamental concept recognizes that time is valuable, so why not engage in a philanthropic cause while performing an activity as essential as reading?

Second, I have my colleagues to praise for their enthusiasm and creativity when it comes to finding ways to do good while respecting the proverbial laws of the land. In the past, our ingenuity has taken the form of requesting a voluntary token financial contribution when paying for a field trip.

For example, the Sixième and Troisième field trips earlier this year managed to raise well over 200€ to help fund renovation projects for a school in Tanzania. The Middle

Read-a-thon 2015 “I feel American because I think my attitude is positive and enthusiastic like all Americans.

I speak English everyday with my friends and my mother. I feel American because I love going to the United States where there is a variety of cultures.”

The second edition of the read-a-thon fundraiser was another great success. In 2015, students from the Danish Section joined American and British Section pupils, and together raised over 20,880€! The entire amount will be donated to the Room to Read “Nepal Education Fund” to rebuild schools in the aftermath of the recent tragic earthquake. Room to Read will be using the crisis as an opportunity to provide further training to teachers, get even more girls than before into school, and re-think the educational infrastructure of the country in partnership with the Nepalese government.

The purpose of the read-a-thon is manifold. It reunites American Section students of all ages and from all three campuses around a common purpose - educating underprivileged children. It also builds cross-section synergies, with the added benefit of promoting reading within the student body. Finally, it is a way to introduce students to the value of philanthropy.

41% of American Section students participated, with exceptional participation rates in 6ème (63%), CE1 (62%), CM2 (54%) and 4ème (54%). The three classes with over 80% participation - Ms. Hershey’s Sixièmes (95%), Ms. McCarthy’s 2nd Graders (83%) and Mrs. Reed’s Terminale B (80%) all received special thanks from Room to Read Paris for their implication in the project.

Luke Doladille, 5ème

Thank you!

School’s social events, such as dances, traditionally seek to raise money this way for other noteworthy causes, as well as solicit donations of toiletries and school supplies for those in need. In recent years, we have been able to send our Upper School student delegation to India with suitcases full of school supplies for the street children they will work with during their two week humanitarian trip. To help local agencies, toiletries have been collected for the homeless people of our area.

Additionally, the Section actively encourages students who have great ideas as well. One of last year’s dances raised money for the charity Courons pour l’Education founded

by Clémence Bruguier ‘17 to guarantee education for girls around the world. This year, the Section has launched a drive to collect toiletries for Syrian refugees, an initiative conceptualized and sponsored by student Edith Coronas ‘17. My colleagues and I remain deeply impressed and touched by the altruism and out-of-the-box thinking that we witness year after year in our student body.

Third, in a category all its own is the Section’s splendid Gala. This annual event is the highlight of the Section’s fundraising activities, bringing together our community to celebrate the Section while raising money for special initiatives designed to directly benefit our students. On this remarkable evening,

amidst lovely surroundings, parents can bid on a panoply of prizes, including class baskets, a tradition in the Section whereby a class selects a theme for its basket and parents and students contribute items to create a cornucopia of treats related to that theme.

In the ninth grade, I read R.H. Tawney’s 1926 landmark work, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. As improbable as this may sound, the book actually did have a profound influence on me.

It taught me that the culture of giving in the United States has deep roots, going back to its earliest days as a colony.

Charity giving evolved into a tradition amongst Americans, serving both a moral and practical purpose. As the Section’s mission is to create graduates who will go out and change the world, the open-heartedness I’ve described above assumes an ever-greater role.

This article, placed as it has been, between the academic and fundraising sections of this issue of Compass, serves as concrete testimony to the spirit of generosity that not only does--but must--exist embedded in the work the Section performs, both in and out of the classroom.

Adrienne Covington Middle School Principal AME R I C A N A !

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R

ANNUAL FUND 2015 As I read through the draft of this issue of Compass, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of good fortune. I am proud to be part of such a robust community. I am grateful that our students have such devoted teachers and so many opportunities to grow outside their classroom: to explore their interests, pursue their passions, become global citizens and tomorrow’s leaders.

The American Section and the French curriculum at the Lycée International are demanding on both students and parents. It is reassuring to know that our Faculty, administrators, staff, and parents, stand beside and behind our students. Everyone gives and gives. It’s necessary and rewarding. We do it time and again, in many ways, but the reason never changes: it makes student life and the American Section experience the best we can offer. As a result, we are able to offer a learning and growth environment on par with the best independent schools in the U.S. “How is this possible?” We don’t have a secret formula. It’s simpler, yet more complex than that. Giving is in the DNA of the American Section. It’s even something we teach our students The Future from the earliest ages, encouraging them to volunteer for is community service projects, as peer tutors, and to help at events.

Today So, with the learnings and improvement plan from accreditation in hand, and the certificate in our pocket, we look toward the future. As a Section we embark on the formulation of 20/20 Vision, the next strategic plan. We are strong today, as a result of the past. We have donation reserves that make us strong for tomorrow. We can thank past generations of the American Section community, and look forward to leaving our legacy and a sustainable roadmap for the future.

It’s exciting, and I am thankful to each person in our unique community. Your gifts of time, talent and treasure are inspiring - and the building blocks of the future.

AMERICAN SECTION ANNUAL FUND 2015

Fabienne Aschenbroich Chair, Board Development Committee

Annual Fund Evolution 100000€ 91,216€

90000€ 80000€

73,465€

70000€

66,606€ 54,982€ 55,664€

60000€ 50000€ 40000€

30,310€

D CC OO MM PA S SS SMM AG AA Z IZNI N EE PA AG

57,144€

50,570€

43,735€ 29,720€

30000€

2424

39,845€

59,943€

22,958€

20000€ 10000€ 9,444€ 0

2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-4 2014-5

Where Donations will be Spent

AF Campaign 1,430 € Professional Development 19,350 €

Classroom Renovation 1,900 €

Financial Aid 19,300 €

Program Supporters up to 249€ Catherine & Jean-Marc BABUT * Isabelle & Jonathan BAKER Caroline & Indrajit BANERJEE Lara VOLOSHIN & Jean Julien BARONNET Florence & Patrick BELE Emmanuelle GRELIER & Samuel BONAMIGO Charlotte BORDE Gaelle CHIODI & Frederic BOTTIN Virginie & Jean-Pascal BOURDIER Kellie BOURQUE-RIGAL Anne & Jean-Baptiste BRIOT Lea & Laurent CHAMBAUD-BOUDET Christine & Pierre CHARCELLAY Caroline & Christophe CHOQUART Hélène and Chris CLARK Geneviève & Guy COMMUNIER Min Hua SUN & Pascal CORCESSIN Adrienne & Richard COVINGTON Karl COX * Amy & Philippe CRIST Nathalie SAREL & Rémy CROISILLE Lisa DEMANGEAT Karen & Julien DESMOTTES Emmanuelle RIEDEL & Gabriel DROUIN Ada & Marc FAYET Laurence & Laurent FISCHER Michelle & Thomas FISCHER Muriel & Ronan FLOCH Maria BOVINO & Samuel FOURNEAUX Alexia & Shahin GASHTI Gaelle HUNT & Frédéric GAUTHEY Désirée & Henri GENIN Sophie & Laurent GILHODES Murielle & Christophe GOUELO Michelle GREEN Sylvie & Etienne GRIMON Bruno GUIOT Yasmina HADERBACHE Beccy & Stuart HAUGEN Nathalie & Serge HEIDRICH Scot HICKS Benedicte & Loïc HOURMAND Sophie & Olivier HUET Cecile & Richard HULLIN Julia & Olivier JAMART Margaret JENKINS Tatiana & Sven JOCHIMSEN Angela & Jean-Luc JONVILLE Nathalie & Jean-Christophe JUILLARD Sybille & Marc LA FAY Sujatha & Ravi Sankar LANKE Catherine & Etienne LAVAUX Cécile & Arnaud LE TIRAN Muriel & Youssef LEBBAR * Wendy & Randy LEMMERMAN Catherine & Olivier LETEURTRE Ilona & Brian LOCKHART Maryline & Franck MARILLY Françoise & Jonathan MARSH Eva PEREZ & Alvaro MARTINEZ ROBLES Kate McCARTHY Andrew McGOVERN Marjoleine & Bruce MEE

Library 13,820 € Strategic Plan Initiatives 17,520 € Program Enhancements 24,980 €

College Councelling 3,000 €

Key Statistics 2014-2015 Total Annual Fund Income: 91,216€ up 24% from last year Total Fundraising Income: 125,264€ up 7% from last year Stéphane & Thamaz MELIAVA Ana Cristina & Olivier MENARD Jennifer RIGGS & Christophe MERER Qi & Manuel MILLOT Isabelle & Julien NAGINSKI Virginie & Guillaume NARJOLLET Farila & Alain ODIN Jennifer & Xavier ODOLANT Anne-Hélène & Mark O’MALLEY Audrey DUBOULOZ & Anthony OUDEARD Melissa PEDRAZA Isabelle & Doug PENNER-LACOMPTE Carolyn & Eric PENOT Anne & Christophe PEYMIRAT Noriko & Nicolas POMBOURCQ Wenjing BAO & Loïc POYSAT Anne PORQUET & Tangi QUEMENER Kathy RAY * Christine & Yannick RAYNAUD Anahita & Reza REYHANI Vanina & Alain ROBIC Janet & Bernard RUBINSTEIN Shelia & Marc SADOFF Michele SILVESTRI & Pierre-Emmanuel SASSONIA Teresa ADAMS & Christian SCHUBERT Jean-Jacques SEKOWSKI Ségolène FINET & Drew SHAGRIN Bénédicte & Thomas SILIER Ruth & Roger SURRIDGE Loan & Robert TRAN Valérie & Marc VALDERRAMA Anne-Claire PAILLE & Guillaume VUILLARDOT Mike & Janice WHITACRE Jonathan WHITNEY * Edwige & Maxime YAO 8 anonymous donors * Alumni Donors

Friends of ASALI Board 2014-15 President: David Renard ‘91 Treasurer: Matt Milgrom ‘95 Secretary: Alexi Remnek ‘87 M E M B E R S AT L A R G E Grace Abuhamad ‘09 Lorna Colarusso Evelyne Pinard Elizabeth Sheehan Anton Zietsman ‘08 We thanks Friends of ASALI for their support of the following initiatives: Writer in Residence Global Citizen Award Summer Scholars Award Community Service Award Student Trips The Friends of the Association de la Section Américaine du Lycée International (FoASALI) is a nonprofit organization composed of former American Section students and parents. FoASALI’s purpose is twofold. The first is to act as the American Section’s philanthropic arm in the United States, participating in the Section’s development by funding specific projects, namely program enhancements that advance the mission statement.

FoASALI’s second objective is to expand the American Section’s family at large with its Lost & Found Event series and other networking-related activities. Anyone wishing to get involved or find long lost friends, please let us know at foasali1@gmail.com David Renard President, FoASALI

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Development Report

Participation Rates 2014-2015 100%

Director’s Circle over 2500€

5-Year Consecutive Donors

Ina & Jan DE WITTE Isabelle & Pierre DEBRAY Regina & Frederic TARDY

( * Ten year consecutive donor)

100%

90% 80%

ASALI Benefactors 1000€ to 2499€

70% 60%

62% 54%

50%

47%

40% 30% 20% 10% Board

Faculty/ Staff

Senior Class

Family

Sources of Fundraising Income 2014-2015 Other Corporate Sponsoring 1% Gala Corporate Sponsoring 7%

Fabienne & Jacques ASCHENBROICH * Laurence CAPELLI BURDON & Ian BURDON Carol & Pierre CAMBEFORT Margaret DICKASON-CLAR & Philippe CLAR Catherine & Mark CORRIGAN Lise & Bertrand DE FOUCHIER Angélique & Jean-Benoît DEVAUGES Nicky & Eric DOLADILLE Sabrina & Marc FOURNIER Kimberly MOCK & Nordine HACHEMI Helen & Tom HICKEY Meenu & Amit KOHLI Elisabeth & Goran LAZOVIC Adeline & John MATHIEU Jean-Christophe & Katie MIESZALA Stephanie ANDRIEUX & Keith NEY Jennifer DALRYMPLE & Luis ROTH Denise & Matthieu VAN VEEN

Club International 2% Misc. <1%

Fundraising Gala 34% Annual Fund 56%

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Philippe & Marie-Anne AYMERICH * Indrajit & Caroline BANERJEE Annette & Brooks BEAULIEU Michel & Debbie BLOCH * Charlotte BORDE Xavier & Celine BOULAT Carol & Pierre CAMBEFORT Mark & Catherine CORRIGAN Karl COX * Philippe & Amy CRIST Bertrand & Lise DE FOUCHIER Alain & Marie-Claude DE SERRES Jan & Ina DE WITTE Christian & Anja DELANNES * Eric DESBLANCS & Tara PATEL William & Catherine FAHBER Laurent & Laurence FISCHER Madeleine & Mark FLEMING Sabrina & Marc FOURNIER Laurent & Sophie GILHODES Christophe & Muriel GOUELO Nordine HACHEMI & Kimberly MOCK Yasmina HADERBACHE Jonathan & Natacha HALL Marie-Noëlle & Rajiv ISWARIAH Etienne & Laurence JACQUES Olivier & Julia JAMART Margaret JENKINS * Vera LAPORTE Olivier & Catherine LETEURTRE * Brian & Ilona LOCKHART Jonathan & Françoise MARSH * John & Adeline MATHIEU Juliana, Marjolein & Bruce MEE Jean-Christophe & Katie MIESZALA Qi & Manuel MILLOT Carolyn & Eric PENOT Dan & Catherine REED Annelise & Jean-Paul RIVAL Jennifer DALRYMPLE & Luis ROTH Thomas & Bénédicte SILIER Stéphane & Nathalie SOUCHET Antoine & Nathalie TIRARD Tom & Emmanuelle VAN DEN BUSSCHE Matthieu & Denise VAN VEEN Kathrine & Benjamin VIDET Richard & Christine WASHINGTON Mike & Janice WHITACRE Ursula LIU & Robert YOUNGBLOOD

Community Builders 500€ to 999€

Your donations are making the following possible: Financial Aid 19,300€ Library 13,820€ Online subscriptions and books Program Enhancements 24,980€ Lower School Project Week Awards and Scholarships Health Program Student Support Program Writer in Residence Guest Speakers India Exchange Trip College Counseling 3,000€ OACAC Conference College Counseling Workshop Strategic Plan Initiatives 17,520€ Curriculum Mapping Accreditation Technology Classroom Renovations 1,900€ Architectural Study Professional Development 19,350€ Software Training ECIS & ELSA Conferences Writing Workshop Technology Training for librarians Technology Workshop for faculty ECIS Administrator’s Conference Fundraising Expenses 1,430€

Marie-Anne & Philippe AYMERICH * Yasmin & Francesco BALLARIN * Allison & Christophe BRAGARD Laure & Richard BRAUN Marie-Claude MICHAUD & Alain DE SERRES Tara PATEL & Eric DESBLANCS Carrie Lee BROWN & Stefano DI LULLO Christine & Brice ENGEL Madeleine & Mark FLEMING * Natacha & Jonathan HALL Marie & Thierry LETRILLIART Joséphine & Philippe LHUSSIER Joanna & Christophe MAINGUY Fabienne & Alexandre-Pierre MÉRY Lennys & Giorgio MILANO Annelise & Jean-Paul RIVAL Laura MONROE-SINGER & Jean-Marie SINGER Nathalie & Stéphane SOUCHET Frédérique & Olivier TIREAU Nancy & Alexandre TREMBLOT DE LA CROIX Emmanuelle & Tom VAN DEN BUSSCHE Caroline GARCIA & Stephane VITRAC

Corporate Sponsors

2 anonymous donors

Section Partners 250€ to 499€ Lindsey & Roch BLEYNIE Marie Capucine & Eric BÔNE Céline & Xavier BOULAT Isabelle BRETHENOUX Fanny & Christoph BRUGUIER Ann & Christophe CHAUVEL-GOBIN Maria CRAWFORD & Sami DAKHLIA * Anja & Christian DELANNES William & Catherine FAHBER Blandine & Marc FISCHER Tatyana & Edward GRABLEVSKY Carmen GOMEZ ALZAGA & Juan HARDOY Marie-Noëlle & Rajiv ISWARIAH Vera LAPORTE Tyra & Philippe MALZY Melanie & Frédéric MIRAN Véronique & John O’BRIEN Catherine & Dan REED Aice & Chis SANTEIU Beth PAUL SAUNIER & Maël SAUNIER Pien JAEGER & Joost SMITS VAN WAESBERGHE Thirawan STYLEMANS Nathalie & Antoine TIRARD Yana & Eric TOFFIN Marlene PANES VIVEROS & Philippe TORDOIR Kathrine & Benjamin VIDET Martine & Christophe VOLARD Richard & Christine WASHINGTON Ursula LIU & Robert YOUNGBLOOD 5 anonymous donors

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Development Report

Karl Cox is the American Section’s most loyal donor.

Karl has made a gift to the Annual Fund every year since its inception in 2001.

“Both my children graduated from the Lycée a few years ago. It is truly amazing what a difference their American Section education has made in their lives. The Section creates global citizens; my Lycée graduates have lived in the U.S., Hong Kong, Switzerland, Haiti and Senegal all within a few years after leaving the Lycée. The world is their oyster thanks in part to their American Section education.” Karl Cox

Senior Class Gift Thomas, Laure & André BENTZE Sarah, Debbie & Michel BLOCH Juliette, Anne & Jean-Baptiste BRIOT Jules, Caroline & Christophe CHOQUART Julia & Sami DAKHLIA, Maria CRAWFORD Sophie, Diane & Amaury DE LAPORTALIERE Matijs, Pieterjan, Ina & Jan DE WITTE Raphaëlle, Isabelle & Pierre DEBRAY Raphaël, Anja & Christian DELANNES Julien & Bridget DUMONT Eleonore, Christine & Olivier DUROYON Boris, Alenka & Arnaud FAGUER François, Murielle & Christophe GOUELO Pauline, Gabrielle & Juergen GRIEB Adeline, Laurence & Andrew HAFEMEISTER Chloé, Jennifer & Frank HANSE Paul, Laurence & James HIGHNAM Camille, Laurence & Etienne JACQUES Maxime, Charlotte & Javier JARQUIN Rebecca, Fanny & Jacques LAFON Victoire, Marie & Thierry LETRILLIART Juliana, Marjolein & Bruce MEE Philippe, Anne-Hélène & Mark O’MALLEY Josephine, Jennifer & Xavier ODOLANT Clément, Odile & Philippe ROBIN Hugo, Anne-Véronique & Bertrand TEFRA Thomas, Valérie & Marc VALDERRAMA Robin, Catherine & Philippe VIENNEY Juliette, Valérie & Luc WANGEN 1 anonymous donor

Matching Grants “I feel American because I speak American English, I LOVE American food and Mamie and Papou (American grandparents who try to visit every year).” Maxence Meliava, CE1 28

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2015 Fundraising Gala M AY 2 9 , 2 0 1 5

We raised an incredible 54,679€ at the Casino Royale - our most successful Gala ever! The money we raised that night is dedicated to our classroom renovation project and to the financial assistance program.

THE AMERICAN S ECTION

We doubted that we could top last year’s exceptional fundraising event, but top it we did!

The Casino Royal was not only an incredible financial success, but the sense of community and purpose among participants was palpable, reunited for a sumptuous evening to garner the funds that assure the American Section is all we want it to be. The on-line auction that premièred at our 2015 Gala permitted families unable to attend the evening to participate, and raised close to 5,500€. Those in attendance enjoyed gourmet food, a photo booth, a roulette wheel, live entertainment, and dancing. The silent auction tables were laden with enticing items for bidding, including a beautiful assortment of the Section’s signature class baskets.

Delphine Fremaux-Lejeune of Normandy Auction and our very own Middle School Principal, Adrienne Covington, orchestrated the evening’s highlight, a spirited live Auction.

Thank you to our dedicated Gala Committee, Fabienne Aschenbroich, Lise Coronas, Jen Dalrymple, Ina De Witte, Gabrielle Grieb, Margaret Jenkins, Meenu Kohli, Daniela Matson-Nowers, Katie Mieszala, Carolyn Penot, Annelise Rival, Sabine Sayag, Regina Tardy and Denise Van Veen for organizing such a memorable (and profitable!) evening. Thank you as well to the thirty five Upper School student volunteers who were instrumental in the running the gala, as well as Lower School Principal, Beccy Haugen, who created the original masterpieces that were the highlights of the live auction, with her Pre-K class and the entire Fourth Grade. Thank you as well to the many members of our community who made or facilitated auction donations, and to our generous commercial sponsors.

Total Proceeds 54,679€

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PLATINUM SPONSORS

Development Report

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS Bo Droga Camp California Champagne Jeeper Château de Montfort La Boutique du Vélo L’Oreal Next Talent Consulting Stormy Castle, Wales Super U BENEFAC TOR Academie Scientifique de Beauté Golf de Fourqueux Josette Dujon (Baïa) Les Montants au Palais Paris Wine Company Phyto/Lierac Théâtre Alexandre Dumas PARTNER

Under the direction of Beccy Haugen, our three Fourth Grade classes collaborated this year to craft a unique American flag for the Gala’s Live Auction. Each child was given a strip of white fabric, on which they designed symbols representative of their State Report state. The strips were then sewn together to form the white stripes of the flag, alternating with strips of plain red fabric, with a stenciled field of stars. It was the Live Auction’s hottest item, selling for a whopping 1,900€! Thank you to the students and their teachers for their much-appreciated creative efforts.

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Angela Charbonnier Beauté Bio Betsy Klein Jewelry Big Apple Yoga BPS Tax Services Chais d’Oeuvre Côté Cour Dharma Yoga Endurance Shop Ekyog Horton Tax Services Institut National de Gemmologie Le Manége Les Pyramides Les Secrets Nail Bar Little Gym Orgeval Marjolein Martinot Photography Mathilde de Turkheim Jewelry O’Gaufrier Pavillon Henri IV Pierre Hermé Paris Plastic Omnium Raynald Baïa Sandrine Benyahia-Roussel Small is Beautiful Truffaut Fourqueux Véronique Pion Jewelry

2015 Fundraising Gala

AMER I C A N A!

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Alumnifocus What does a student with no ties to America get out of the American Section beyond the English language?

We asked seven “franco-French” alums to explain how their American Section experience shaped their lives.

Marie-Pascale Grimon ‘06 Marie-Pascale Grimon attended the American Section from 4ème to Terminale.

After six years as expatriates in the U.S., her parents were looking for a way for their five children to keep up their English, which they thought would serve them later on in their professional lives.

Her whole family is French and they only spoke French at home.

Marie-Pascale graduated from the Lycée in 2006 and enrolled in a Prépa B/L Lettres et Sciences Sociales program at Sainte Marie de Neuilly. After three years of prépa, she was admitted to ENSAEParistech, an engineering school specialized in Economics and Statistics. While at ENSAE she had an internship with a student run microfinance institution in Bolivia, and took a gap year to do a biostatistics research internship at Cambridge University in the U.K. ENSAE allows students to do their final year abroad, so Marie-Pascale completed a master’s in International and Development Economics at Yale University. She subsequently worked for a year in research at the Duke University Department of Economics, and traveled to India a few times for work.

Since 2014 she is enrolled in a PhD in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“As clearly evident from my educational and career path, my life would have been completely different had I not attended the LI. If I had attended a conventional French school, I most likely would have followed the traditional prépa/grande école route without deviating from it. From seeing my French friends from ENSAE, I think most likely I would be working as a consultant in economics either

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for a private firm or for the French government.”

Marie-Pascale gained four important things from her American Section education. The ease of expression in written and oral English, as well as the intellectual curiosity that the American Section gave her, have served her well over the years. The diversity of origins of her Lycée classmates gave her a love for travelling and meeting people, “Finally, maybe most personally, the high quality teaching I received in the American Section has given me the desire to pursue teaching which has led me to a PhD. My American Section teachers were attentive to students.

All questions and participation were encouraged, and equally considered. Teachers were always keen on helping students develop personally and not just academically.

Creative expressions in EN are a great example of this, or yet another example is how personal interpretations of readings are promoted in EN. It this for this type of teaching that I have returned to the U.S. for graduate studies, and it is this type of mentorship that has kept me here for a PhD too.”

And while she does not have American nationality, she does feel American. “It will sound very amusing, but to some extent I feel French in the U.S. and American in France… I have adopted the American accent as mine, as well as some traditions. I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner this year!”

Marco Fayet ‘09 Like many others at the Lycée, Marco Fayet grew up as a bilingual expat kid in a multicultural family. His dad is French, his mom Nigerian, and Marco was fortunate enough to spend his childhood in Indonesia and the U.A.E. Given the reputation of the American Section, as well as the bilingual curriculum and international environment it offers, joining the Lycée was a natural decision for his family upon their return in France. He spent his Troisième at Marcel Roby, then switched to the Lycée campus where he stayed until graduation in 2009.

Marco moved to Montreal after the bac and studied economics, international development and statistics at McGill University. In parallel to his studies, he worked part-time in a behavioral economics research institute. He also got involved in several student associations, including some focused on conflict and social engagement. After his Bachelors, Marco helped his mom set up her France-toNigeria wine export business. He then spent the next two years in international organizations: first at the OECD in Paris, where he worked in communications and development, then at the Dakar station of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. He returned to school in September and is now in Barcelona doing a Masters in data science.

When asked how his life would have been different if he had attended a conventional French school, Marco responds, “I probably would have stayed in France and had a completely different life. One the many strengths of the Lycée is that it encapsulates a huge variety of people with different backgrounds, opinions and interests. Looking at what former students were doing was a huge push for me to go out there and see what else was happening outside of France. I’m a huge believer in the advantages of studying abroad, partly because of what I’ve seen my Lycée peers achieve.”

His time in the American Section gave him a “deeper sense of understanding - and often, appreciation - of the American culture and identity.” He found one of the biggest advantages of his time in St. Germain was the quality and the variety of the educational system offered by the Section and the Lycée. “Being able, as a high-school student, to comfortably switch from physics to philosophy while juggling two or three or four languages is pretty remarkable. The workload leading to the bac is grueling, but the payoffs in knowledge and confidence are enormous.”

He also appreciates the American Section teachers, and “the emphasis put by the American Section on activities outside the classroom. Globally, I found that very few students come out as well rounded as kids doing the OIB.”

Véronique Echemann (Bressard) ‘99 Despite having two French parents, Véronique Echemann (Bressard) considers herself to be a French-American, not only because she has recently returned to France after ten years living in the U.S. but also because she feels like she “studied in an environment close to that of an American student.” Véronique attended Marcel Roby (now Jeanne d’Albret) from Sixième to Terminale from 1992 to 1999.

After obtaining her OIB, Véronique matriculated prépa HEC at the Lycée Carnot, followed by a Masters in Business from ESCP. She then crossed the Atlantic, where she worked for ten years in New York launching and developing the U.S. subsidiary of Mediakeys, a French advertising agency. During her New York years she met her husband Thierry, had two sons (Quentin born in 2011 and Auguste born in 2014), and became a certified career coach. In June 2015 the Echemann family returned to France, where Véronique is now developing the Paris office of Keyman, an executive search firm based in Lille.

Véronique thanks her bilingualism for most, if not all, of her opportunities and successes in life - from her admissions to prépa and to ESCP, as well as the job she landed in New York. The single fact that she spent seven years constantly exposed to American culture and had access to activities such as MUN, yearbook, etc. made her life richer and gave her a head start. Her American Section experience has also inspired her to do things in different ways and to deal with everything in life with a positive mind. Her Section years also brought her open-mindedness, and an inside knowledge of U.S. culture.

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Alumnifocus Rishi Chopra ‘99 When Rishi Chopra was in Cinquième, his English teacher told his parents that the English curriculum in his conventional French school was not challenging him enough. They encouraged him to apply to the Lycee International at Lycée Marcel Roby (today’s Jeanne d’Albret). To his great excitement, he was accepted. Rishi enrolled in 1994, and graduated with an OIB in 1999.

After the Lycée, he earned his Bachelors Degree, with a double major in International Studies and Political Science and a minor in Spanish, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rishi went on to earn his Masters Degree in International Studies with a focus on Development Cooperation at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. After working as a Junior Project Officer at the United Nations in Vienna for two years he joined a private sector consultancy firm and become a Senior Project Manager and eventually the Head of the Business Development and Project Management unit. Following this experience, he joined another international organization in Brussels, where he has worked as a Program Director and Organizational Development Expert since 2012.

The American Section at the Lycee Marcel Roby offered Rishi a different and more complete curriculum as well as a different style of teaching. “Indeed while the subject matters (English, Literature and World History) were interesting, the pedagogical methods and the quality of the professors made a big difference. It was not only about absorbing the content; it was also about processing the information and formulating our own thoughts and opinions about the material studied. This was done in writing but also through discussions, which enabled us to also hone our presentation and debating skills.” Rishi joined the MUN team and believes that experience had a strong influence on his decision to study abroad, his choice of major, and his career path within international organizations. He cherishes the friendships he made within the American Section, and that he has worked to sustain long after graduation.

Rishi is very grateful to his parents for giving him the opportunity to attend the American Section, as it allowed him to experience the best of the French and the American education systems. “Do I feel American in some ways?

I cannot say that, as it is hard to pinpoint what it feels to be American. However, I can say that I have a deep, positive and strong connection with America, its people, its land, its history, its values and its culture.”

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Nolwen Flajoliet ‘12 Nolwen Flajoliet’s French family spent six years in Singapore when she was an infant. Although she was only two when they returned to France, her parents wanted her to learn English early on like her elder brother and sister, so she began her bicultural education in the British Section in Mat 2. In Middle School she switched to the American Section, mainly because Marcel Roby was closer to her home.

After her graduation in 2012, Nolwen remained in France to study medicine in Paris Descartes. “Even though I expected it, one of the hardest things in my first year of medicine was the extremely scientific education, miles away from what we did in high school. I missed those classes where creativity was highly valued, and this feeling of lacking something pushed me to apply for the Erasmus program in third year, to continue down the path I started at the Lycée International.” Nolwen is currently enrolled in her fourth year of study in Paris, and is preparing an application for a two-month internship in either Ottawa (Canada) or Buenos Aires (Argentina) next summer.

“Thanks to the American Section, and the Lycée, I am deeply convinced that cultural diversity is the foundation for a complete and high-quality education. French and Americans have so much to learn from each other, achieving excellence in their own definite ways. On the French side, I learned to aim for excellence, to push myself intellectually, to reflect, observe and think rationally.

The American Section taught me to challenge myself, encouraged me to give the best of what I have, believe in myself and see the positive outcomes even in failure.

I hear myself speaking sometimes and realize that I’m saying something I learned with the American Section; the importance of communication, the fact that trying and failing is better than not trying for fear of failure.”

“I learned to get out there, and step out of my comfort zone. As a typical French girl, it was sometimes difficult for me. Some methods were too invasive, too “unsubtle,” and I wasn’t always at ease with sharing personal stories, or participating in animated class debates (if only I had realized how precious it is!) Sometimes with other 100% French students, we just couldn’t understand the jokes made in class because we lacked a whole part of American culture. Yet, I am happy and grateful to have been challenged.

It taught me to adapt, to open up in ways an exclusively French education would not have.”

Nolwen is French; her family, her studies, and her friends in Paris are mostly French. But “the people close to me make me realize that I have an American side. It is in what I say, and the way that I see things. I prefer the optimism of Americans, rather than the ‘darkened rationalism’ of the French.” American history classes stimulate critical thinking, book reports develop a sense of creativity, literary essays push students to build their own interpretations and construct personal and unique arguments, and co-curricular activities encourage implication in the world outside academics. “I believe all these little things, and so many more, have completed and enhanced my French roots with a touch of American spirit.”

Joe Knoertzer ‘06 Joe Knoertzer’s profile is comparable to that of an increasingly large percentage of American Section students. He grew up in Africa and the Middle East, attending international or American schools. The American Section offered the best chance for educational continuity and to prevent total cultural estrangement when his French family returned to their homeland in 2002, so he matriculated as a Troisième student, graduating with the class of 2006.

He studied under some of the most inspiring teachers he has ever met in the American Section. “In the ten years since graduating, I have never picked up a book without at some stage thinking: ‘am I reading this right? Would this interpretation stand up to Mrs. Lynch’s scrutiny?’ I also learned more about presenting in public from MUN and Mr. Lynch, than any business school or corporate training. Overall I would say the Section gave us both the skills to excel in higher education, and the desire to go there in the first place.”

After graduation, Joe went on to study Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), followed by a Masters at the London Business School. He started his working career with a London-based group in the sports and fashion industry. After eight years in the U.K., Joe transferred to New York last summer, where he now works as a sales director. It took him less than a week of living in New York to reconnect with five American Section classmates, and even attended his first Class of 2006 wedding in Princeton last year.

Joe asserts that part of him has “always felt American, but without having American family or ever living there, it was only ever partial. That changed quickly when I moved

to the U.S. In some sense there was not much missing to close the loop.” He credits the education he received at the Lycée International with putting him on his life’s path.

“The American Section empowered us to look outside for university, and gave us the support to make it happen, be it college counseling, mentorship or a pretty robust education. The decision seems obvious in hindsight, but it certainly altered my trajectory. I’m not sure I would have made the same choices or had the same fighting chance in a French school.”

Christopher Goethals ‘76 “There is no doubt that four years in the U.S. followed with another four at the Lycée and the American Section have conditioned my professional life and, to a certain extent, perhaps my social life as well.” Christopher Goethals ’76 is from a traditional French family, and both of his parents are French nationals. He and his two brothers joined the Lycée and the American Section in 1971 (during the “Scherer years”) after a four-year stay in the U.S. where his father worked at General Electric in Connecticut.

After his graduation in 1976, Christopher received an engineering degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from ESME Sudria.

He first worked as a Civil Servant, completing French military obligations in the Ivory Coast, then joined a French software firm as

a computer engineer. His experience in English was of little use then, but it quickly became his professional language in 1989 when he moved to Apple. His current job in Europe and the Middle East sales marketing organization (still with Apple after 26 years) is exclusively in English.

“It’s no secret that my French compatriots are uncomfortable with foreign languages (though maybe less so today with the rapid penetration of English amongst students in France). I was quickly able to differentiate in this respect and stand out in situations where English was key.” But beyond the language itself, it was American culture as a whole that he was exposed to at the American Section.

“Without ever ignoring my origins, in many ways I feel like an adoptive American, no doubt about it. I can sing the American anthem straight on with no hesitation. I know American history much better than my own native French history and when it comes to politics, it sometimes feels I have better understanding of U.S. political life than what goes on in France!”

Some of Christopher’s closest friends are former Lycée alumni: Americans, French but from other origins as well.

Facebook serves as a great media to keep them connected. He and his ex-wife have raised their three daughters in the Lycée spirit, with clear signals from both parents about the importance of mixed cultures and multilingualism.

Want to learn more from Christopher himself? Write to him at cgoethals@mac.com. He will be happy to respond.

AME R IC A NA !

35

“ In the American Section,

the teachers are American.

Our way of talking to the kids, of expecting them to talk back, of requiring them to forge a strong, public self in high school-one with attitudes, opinions, imagination and wisdom that can be expressed aloud and on the page-is something that is uniquely ours. It is what makes us different from our colleagues from other cultures and it is what makes our kids feel that

© MARJOLEIN MARTINOT

while they were here, we really knew them. We did --and we do.

”