News & Events 2010-2011

From Blairstown to Normandy & Back

French teacher Maria Bowditch provides a report on a recent exchange between Blair students and a group of their French counterparts, as follows:

Take one Blair Academy, 450 students strong, located in rural New Jersey, and then take one French high school, Lycée Henri Cornat, 900 strong with just three grades, situated in the farm land of Normandy. What does this mélange bring but a host of similarities identified, despite the language differences.

The group of Blair students who traveled to France over March break found that love of music and animals and playgrounds knows no boundaries due to national origin or native language. Cheryl Mucciolo and Teddy Riker were glad to share their fondness of horses and dogs with their host families. Emma Price, the brave French 1 student who joined the trip, was happy to see that she and her French host enjoyed the Rolling Stones and How I Met Your Mother. For one week the Blair students lived individually with French families and attended school each morning. Celia Jia aptly described the classroom experience: “Armed with the little French we knew, classes like math and history seemed manageable, but philosophy and economics were a little bizarre.” The trip also included visits to Omaha Beach and Paris, where the group met Olivia Trozze ’08 for dinner. Olivia, a junior at Cornell University, is spending a semester in Paris.

After spring vacation, Blair Academy welcomed three of the Normandy host students to campus, three students who had never before visited the United States. Jean, Sylvain and Clémence, who lived with host families and attended classes at Blair, wish to thank everyone involved for their warm hospitality: “Upon our arrival the greatness and beauty of the buildings on campus strongly reinforced the positive image of Blair that our English teacher had described. Moreover, we were pleasantly surprised by the spontaneous kindness and generosity of the Blair students and host families. We would particularly like to extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Hardwick, Mrs. Bowditch and Mr. Dorelien without whom this exchange would never have happened. Finally, we address a special thought for the families Deehan, Joachim, Fahey, Small, Rencis and Mojdehbakhsh who welcomed us and made us discover part of the American lifestyle.”

Updated 5/11/11

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