Below is an article from Terresa Pietro, shared in the WPS November District Newsletter:
WILMINGTON, MA — The fall colors are a little brighter, the cider a little sweeter, and SCREEEMFEST a little scarier when experienced with a first time visitor to New England. We did just that as we welcomed 18 exchange students and two teachers from the Lycée Jeanne d’Arc in Sainte-Adresse, France to Wilmington this October.
The WHS Student Exchange Committee kicked off the eight day French Exchange visit with an overview of WHS and the “Taste of Wilmington” donut/bagel breakfast. To share a bit of the region’s history, the WHS World Language Department, in collaboration with Hummingbird Student Tours, arranged for excursions to Plimoth Patuxet Museums, Harvard/MIT, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Freedom Trail. Wilmington host families then rounded out the experience by providing a myriad of adventures from pumpkin carving, bowling, and camping to visits to the top of the Prudential, New Hampshire, the Celtics game, the Topsfield Fair, the Burlington Mall, and so much more!
An exchange program is far more than a sightseeing adventure however. The French visitors took an equal amount of delight in experiencing typical daily life in Wilmington with their hosts. They attended classes and FLEX activities at WHS, ate cafeteria lunches, rode the big yellow school bus, played basketball together, and – the highlight – cheered on the Wildcats at an American high school football game. (Just like in the movies!) WHS students and staff also delighted in the French students’ and teachers’ participation in our classes, guest presentations about life in Normandy, practicing French and helping with English, and conversations about school life in each of our countries.
Our new friends from Lycée Jeanne d’Arc left us with a few tears, much gratitude, and comments about how warm, welcomed, and truly at home they felt here in Wilmington. The impact of their visit can be felt throughout town as host families hailed, not only from WHS, but from Abundant Life, the North Intermediate, and the wider Wilmington community as well. This ripple effect will continue as our WHS students venture on their own journeys and are hosted by the families of our French friends during the reciprocal portion of the exchange in France this coming April.
This second year of the WHS Exchange Program has reinforced the magic and impact of cultural exchange and inspires us to make exchanges in Wilmington annual events so that even more of our community’s language learners have opportunities to apply the languages they study, learn more about different cultures, and even make a few new friends!
For more information on this year’s French Exchange, or to get involved and help support future exchanges in Wilmington, please contact Terresa Pietro in the WHS World Language Department.
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