2016/17 ANNUAL REVIEW of the AMERICAN SECTION - LYCÉE INTERNATIONAL de ST-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 2016/17 ANNUAL REVIEW of the AMERICAN SECTION - LYCÉE INTERNATIONAL de ST-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
The Places You’ll Go
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C Oh the Places You’ll Go! This latest issue of Compass provides a peek at the gifts--both great and small--that the Section bestows on us all. Aptly named after the prize-winning book by the late Dr. Seuss, this edition of the Section’s yearly magazine takes us outside the classroom, showing us how our students grow from learning first-hand about the world around them. In Lower School, students commence this special journey through the countless benefits of Project Week, while in the Middle School they learn about tolerance and diversity during the Section’s ambitious Amsterdam trip. In Upper School, the philosophy is identical as students test their physical limits in Normandy, or comprehend sacrifice at the American cemetery at Omaha Beach. In short, the classroom-withoutwalls experience offers inestimable lifelong value to any Section student, revealed through the many trips illustrated here. Seuss’ book provides not only the perfect title for our magazine, but the storyline--about life and its many challenges--is also especially suited to the greater message of this issue of Compass. The cover photo captures three graduates of our Section: Edward de Fouchier, Adam Cox and Simon Behr, Class of 2010. Since graduating from college, these young men have been actively involved in humanitarian projects in Senegal. You can read about Edward’s life post-Lycée in the pages that follow. In other features, you can also discover what our graduates are up to--and read up on how a bilingual, bicultural education has directly impacted their choice of profession. With this issue, our aim is to demonstrate the greater value of an American Section education. Within its unique international context, it strives to create global citizens ready to tackle the world. With a vision and outlook that lets them feel at ease in every corner of the globe, our students are ready for wherever life’s journey may take them. No doubt Dr. Seuss would have heartily approved. -Adrienne Covington and Mike Whitacre Acting Co-Directors
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i 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 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. Director: Scot Hicks scot.hicks@americansection.org Editor: Margaret Jenkins margaret.jenkins@americansection.org Graphic design: Judy Loda, judylodadesign.com Printer: Imprimerie Jasson-Taboureau
The Places You’ll Go
10 College Counseling University Admissions 14 Writer-in-Residence Bringing Reading and Writing To Life
Vol. 6, Number 1
16 Student Voice Global Citizenship and Summer Scholar Awards
Copyright 2017 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 strive to offer the best teaching practices and extracurricular activities, in a collaborative and engaged American and international community, in order to foster intellectual curiosity and self-confidence that will help students realize their full potential. The American Section prepares students to play dynamic roles in the world, by developing their leadership abilities and sense of responsibility towards others. Please address admissions inquiries to Director of Admissions, Lisa Stephens-Morvan, at admissions@americansection.org.
4 Lower School Project Week!
8 Upper School Extending, Learning and Building Community Through Field Trips
Photography Tonio Colonna, Ben Heckscher, Margaret Jenkins, Livia Robic, Denis Royer
Within the unique context of the Lycée International and its partner schools, where students learn in both French and their national language, the American Section provides a high quality American educational and cultural experience.
2 Director’s Corner Oh the Places You’ll Go!
6 Middle School Inimitable Amsterdam
Contributors Grace Baghdadi, Victoria Bélorgeot, Chloé Benoist, Catherine Boalch, Emilie Briot, Clémence de Brugière, Adrienne Covington, Amy Crist, Edward de Fouchier, David Guedj, Beccy Haugen, Ben Heckscher, Harshida Kohli, Sanaë Lemoine, Laura Manoukian, Matthew Morvan, Sydney Penot, Jessie Poquérousse, Catherine Reed, Naomi Sadoff, Juliette Simon, Jacques Singer, Laure Trebosc, Denise van Veen, Mike Whitacre
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
Table of Contents
22 New Faces Where They Have Come From
“With a vision and outlook that lets them feel at ease in every
24 Development Report 30 Alumni Focus Where are they now?
corner of the globe, our students are ready for wherever life’s journey may take them. No doubt Dr. Seuss would have heartily approved.” Cover photo by Clémence Jouan
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Project Week! Every year, American Section Lower School students look forward to a full week of Section classes dedicated to what we call Project Week. The Lower School has a long-standing tradition of stepping away from normal curricular studies for a week of hands-on learning concentrated around a central theme. This theme, chosen by teachers, is the genesis of the particular projects for each level and is the thread that ties them all together. Project Week began in the fall of 1987. The newly appointed Principal, Barbara Moross, while collaborating on a project with a teacher in Lyon, returned to the Château d’Hennemont with the idea of creating a special week dedicated to learning ‘outside the box’ (a phrase that had not yet been coined in that era, but a perfect way to describe it). During Project Week our students explore the world around them in fun and exciting ways. The first Project Week theme in 1988 was “Changes.” Teachers spent a major part of their winter vacation preparing the activities and projects that launched this new initiative. While the timing of Project Week has changed, it remains a hands-on, collaborative project that has our students working together as teams; allowing them to think and share in different ways. It can be likened to a journey to a ‘theme park,’ where the various permutations of the ‘theme,’ the attractions, are explored at the different grade levels. Having a central theme allows families to discuss the topic, no matter the age or grade level of the student.
“You’ll move mountains” You would think that after almost 30 years, we would have run out of ideas, but that has never been an issue. You can imagine how many projects have been done when you
“My favorite Project Week was “Around the World.” My class studied Mayan times; we made Mayan masks and something else that had to do with patterns and strings. I found the subject interesting and enjoyed doing the crafts and learning about ancient civilizations.”
“My favorite Project Week was the “Around the World” themed one. We made Mexican ponchos, sombreros, and maracas... I enjoyed it because we learned about Mexican culture and made fun crafts. Learning about other countries is fascinating!” Margaux Hoffman, Sixième
“Our favorite Project Week was when we made Roman tablets with playdoh and wooden frames. We found it captivating, and they were not only useful, they last for a long time - we still use ours!”
“My favorite Project Week was when we had to come up with two opposing themes and then draw or “create” them--one on the inside and the other on the outside of a box. My two themes were something and nothing. I made the inside of my box really colorful and the outside blank. I was curious to see what the other members of my class did.”
Anna Souchet and Orianna Merer, Troisième
Bénédict Van den bussche, Quatrième
Shanti Croisille, Cinquième
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PROJECT WEEK QUOTES “My favorite Project Week was when we made canjos (banjos made out of cans) because we made something that was both fun and useful.” Eleonore Fischer, Troisième
multiply each theme by seven class levels: Pre-K through 5th grade. That is over 200 unique projects! Some of the themes over the years that have taken our students places are Patterns, Construction, Movement, Water, Magic and Mystery, Earth Awareness, Healthy Habits, All Roads Lead to Rome, Native Americans, It’s a Wonderful World, and Fun with Dr. Seuss. Much preparation goes into choosing each theme, the right lessons, and the right projects that can be accomplished in our six-hour school week.
“Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!” Where have our students gone? Physically, they have been to the zoo, the post office, the recycling center, the park, and even on a cruise down the Seine. They have had talks from a dentist and a stained glass artist, and have been entertained by a magician. Project Week is always filled with surprises. The learning is endless and abounds with creativity. Thanks to careful planning, preparation, and collaboration by the teachers, assisted by indispensable parent volunteers, our students always have an enriching experience. They come away with new knowledge and a memento created over the course of the week.
“And will you succeed? Yes, you will, indeed (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)!” “It’s a Wonderful World,” one of our more recent Project Weeks, virtually took our students to various countries around the world. Thanks to technology and Internet access, students were able to travel to India, Japan, China, Australia, Egypt, Mexico, or Peru without getting on a train or an airplane. At each level, students learned about the customs and culture of the country and created a project representative of something significant one might see or do in that country. They made clay candles for an Indian Diwali celebration, Japanese lanterns, Chinese water-color scrolls, Aboriginal paintings, Egyptian mummies, ancient Incan masks, Mexican sombreros, and even danced the Mexican Hat dance. The countries and their customs came alive for Lower School students as they ‘visited’ new places. It was a week of tremendous project-based learning.
“You’ll be seeing great sights!” The“It’s a Wonderful World” Fifth Grade project about the fascinating gold artwork of the Incas even inspired newly-retired teacher Ms. McCarthy to travel to Peru this fall! She visited Machu Picchu and the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, and worked with handicapped Peruvian children. Oh, the Places You’ll Go has no greater meaning than to inspire our students, as well as our teachers, to go places they have not gone before. The Dalai Lama says, “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” We hope that through our Project Week, we enable our students to do just that. -Beccy Haugen, Lower School Principal All quotes from Dr. Seuss’s The Places You’ll Go.
“One of my favorite Project Weeks, in 5th grade involved imitating stained glass windows in churches. We all created beautiful images, that looked even better in the light. I connected with all my friends from both schools and even made some new ones while creating together.” Ito Choho, Première
“My favorite Project Week was “The Sound of Music” themed week because it was enchanting and amusing. We made fun instruments that we could actually play.”
“I remember digging dirt in an Adidas shoe box, searching for fake dinosaur bones. It was super fun and it taught me a lot.”
Charlotte Guerin, Quatrième
Felicien Robert-Vassy, Terminale
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©Photo: Denis Royer
Inimitable Amsterdam
As this latest issue of Compass goes to press, the Middle School’s annual Amsterdam trip is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. And without wishing to sound boastful, the trip--with its emphasis on Tolerance, Diversity and Sustainability--is as popular and eagerly anticipated as ever. How is it possible that generations of Cinquièmes remain excited, counting the weeks and days before the trip? In many cases, that countdown begins in CM2! The answer lies, in the fact that Amsterdam is, quite simply, the perfect Middle School trip. It combines so many elements that hit all the right notes and at the right age, no matter what the young person’s cognitive or developmental stage, there’s bound to be something on this trip that will charm and delight even the most growly Cinquième. But what is it that works so well here? To begin with, the trip assumes one simple truth--that young people love to learn and love to feel responsible for their own learning. Ten years ago, with that very basic premise, planning the trip rapidly fell into place.
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Objective one: take the kids to as many interesting meaningful places as possible. Sure, insisting they visit the Anne Frank House to understand tolerance is a no-brainer. But dinner in an Indonesian restaurant? What’s that all about? My former colleague Michelle Green was the first to come up with the idea in her own version of the trip 11 years ago... that presenting the kids with a grown-up experience of eating in a real restaurant, without one’s parents (and 60+ of one’s classmates!) could be a hugely validating memory for all. To this day, hundreds of rijstaffel dishes and dozens of eyewatering chili peppers later, the meal remains one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of the trip. (Plus, let’s admit it...growing up in France compels you to become a discerning gourmet!) For the chaperones and me, it is heart-warming to watch the kids
during this gobble-fest--to see how they socialize with their peers (like adults at a business dinner!) as they gingerly negotiate dishes with which they are unfamiliar. Objective two: keep the kids busy. Before the trip, kids often ask me if there’ll be time to wander around the city on their own. Aside from the heart-stopping anxiety that such an activity could produce for me and the five other brave chaperones, the answer is a resounding, “NO!” At this age, the kids’ minds are ramped to absorb a gazillion new things at once, so the more they see and experience on a trip of this nature, the happier they’ll be. In other words, the Amsterdam trip is deliberately one of constant forward motion. We need to make sure there’s no time to be bored! Objective three: assume the kid wants to be treated like an adult. The trip is also designed to give the children responsibility for simple grown-up tasks like managing a personal budget. Each day, the kids need to purchase their own lunch and souvenirs. How one plans to make sure they have enough money at the end of the trip is a big deal for this age-group. There are other learning lessons blended in here--that many, if not most of the children have never been to a foreign country without their families. For others, it is sleeping in a bed other than one’s own. And because all Middle School trips are about bringing together the Section’s Lycée and Roby’s school campuses, the trip is also about making new friends. Objective four: a learning experience outside the classroom is often more effective than one in the classroom. This may be disheartening news to all of us who spend countless hours prepping our in-class lessons, but let’s face it...in twenty years, what’s a kid going to remember--a lesson on some yakkity-yak...or the virtues of sustainable wind power, observed first-hand while scaling a windmill? In education, we call these types of learning experiences a classroom-without-walls lesson and they are a cherished part of our job, because we know that it’s at moments like these that our pedagogical goals and objectives really hit home. I recently attended an educators’ conference where the keynote speaker mentioned that neurological research reveals that our brains light up most when we are given a problem to solve. The engaged, reflective learning provided by this Middle School trip offers our Cinquièmes a host of valid problem-solving experiences--from packing a suitcase to reflecting on the origins of institutionalized racism. And while passive learning definitely has its place in our exam-driven system, the true value of a classroomwithout-walls experience remains one of inestimable value. As we embark on our tenth anniversary journey, we would all do well to recall that the essence of our Amsterdam trip is to cultivate curiosity and encourage problem solving. Ever aware of the significance of the Amsterdam trip, here’s to another ten years!
In ten years, we’ve handed out close to 700 Amsterdam T-shirts. If laid end-to-end, they’d stretch from our Indonesian restaurant--de Kantjil en de Tijger--to the Anne Frank House!
-Adrienne Covington Middle School Principal TH E PL ACE S YO U’ L L G O
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MUN Purpose of the Trip: UN-style debates with students from all over the world Created: Circa 1970 Destinations: Paris, The Hague, Rotterdam and, in 2017, New York City! Duration: Three to five days # of students who participate annually: 20-25 Total # of students who have participated: About 900 Current Organizer: Ben Heckscher Trip Highlights: Conferences at UNESCO and World Forum Convention Center, evenings in The Hague Funny story about the trip: In 2016, due to a spelling mistake made by the organizers, we represented “Guatamala.” Our Terminales made matching friendship bracelets in the Guatemalan colors of orange, blue and white on the way home. Many participants are still wearing their bracelet ten months later!
INDIA EXCHANGE Purpose of the Trip: Community service, cultural discovery and international exchange Created: 2007 Destination: Mumbai (2007), Ahmedabad (since 2008) Duration: Two weeks during February vacation # of students who participate annually: 15-16 Total # of students who have participated: 160 Current Organizer: Margaret Jenkins Trip highlights: Teaching children in three local NGOs, a weekend trip to Udaipur, Vishalla dinner and bonding with hosts Funny story about the trip: One of the golden rules of the India Trip is that the chaperones keep everyone’s passport…instigated after someone lost theirs on the return flight and spent hours getting out of passport control at CDG. But a few years ago, Mrs. Green could not find her own passport when boarding began in Paris. The chaperones desperately tried to camouflage rising panic as they waited to board, until at the last minute Mrs. Green triumphantly whipped the passport from an obscure pocket of her brand new multi-compartments backpack! Another golden rule in India is never drink tap water. That same year, one of our students came to the catastrophic realization that although he had been only drinking bottled water, as he always opens his mouth to drink in the shower, he had been ingesting large quantities of water without realizing it! LONDON THEATER TRIP Purpose of the Trip: An intense and profound theatrical education. We see five very different plays, learn as much as possible about the role of the theater (past and present), attend acting workshops and backstage tours, go on guided walks all over the city, and see some of the greatest art work in the world. It is an unforgettable cultural, literary, linguistic and social experience. Created: 1982 Destination: London Duration: Five days and four nights in either January or April # of students who participate annually: 20 Total # of students who have participated: about 700 Current organizer: Catherine Reed Funny story about the trip: “I have loved every single trip for the last nine years, but, my favorite London Theater Trip moment was during “Vernon God Little” when the metal cage they were lowering to the stage became stuck in the rafters. The three comic actors on the stage, who had been singing, started up again while the tech people figured things out. Our kids, led by Max Ramseyer, joined in the singing with great gusto and the actors saluted them. Best of all, when it became deadly quiet again, Gabriel Mercier’s didgeridoo, purchased that day, lugged onto the Tube and into museums, and now propped against the theater wall next to Mrs. LeJoncour for silent storage during the play, fell onto the metal railing, emitted an astonishing and hilarious sound and stopped the actors (and the audience) again. Every single person in that theater was in stitches.”
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Extending Learning and Building Community through Field Trips “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” I like to refer to that quote, attributed to Saint Augustine, when reminding students that it is through our three short overnight trips that we go beyond the written page and delve into the world of experiential education. When I first began working at the Lycée International’s American Section, there was one field trip for the entire Upper School and that was a one-day round-trip blitz of World War I sites in the Somme. Twelve years later, we have developed a grade specific overnight trip per class, and in each case students return inspired, enlightened, and feeling happy to have had a weekend with their classmates. For the teachers, these trips give us that rare chance to know the students outside our customary rooms 311 and 313. Each trip is unique, but all succeed in bonding a class together, and hopefully giving them a memory of Lycée life that extends beyond the classroom. Ten years ago, we ventured out with Secondes to an open-range zoo in Brittany. The trip, although memorable to some, was not age appropriate and in the course of looking for something different, we came up with the idea of giving our incoming lycéens an experiential trip that would challenge them both physically and psychologically. The following year we took students out of their comfort zones for an outdoor oriented trip to Auvergne where we hiked up the Puy de Dome, rock climbed up a steep granite face, and mountain biked down rocky technical trails during the weekend. We now go to the Suisse Normande in early September for a similarly themed trip, and I have consistently seen students come together, make new friends, and be patient with peers who may not have the same penchant for taking physical risks. The Seconde experiential trip has been a terrific way to kick off one’s high school years and identify with the class. In Première, we have developed a tradition of visiting the Normandy D-Day landing beaches and the Peace Memorial Museum in Caen. The trip has more of an academic focus
as we tie this sejour directly into the OIB History Program. Students see exhibits on “how a society remembers its conflicts,” and “the role of the United States in World War II,” both themes they may see on the OIB bac exam. On the morning of the second day we visit Omaha Beach and walk through the impressive manicured cemetery of white crosses. Having gone countless times, I still find the site moving, and many of our students leave similarly stirred. I often hear stories of a grandmother who remembers the Americans going through her village and although sometimes fashionable to criticize the U.S., that grandmother is forever grateful for the sacrifice made by those young American soldiers. This trip is the ultimate in linking our NATO-founded school and the Franco-American foundation of the Section to history. Last year, we took our first Terminale overnight that might become something of a tradition. The trip was made possible through the Senior Gift from the Class of 2015 primarily because they wanted Terminales to have a memorable lycéeending all Section experience. Timed a month before the baccalaureate exams, we travelled to the Suisse Normande, and not only did outdoor activities, but also held English Lit. and History Q&A sessions with students. The culminating “rite of passage” featured students and teachers free-rappelling on a single rope from a 30-meter high bridge. Seeing students encourage each other to take that leap was literally and figuratively encouraging…all the way to the bac! Although these trips are brief compared to what might be achieved in a stand-alone school, they give students a chance to getaway where they can be mindful of the here and now, and let loose and just be kids. In the long term, they provide another memory of their lycée years that goes beyond the classroom, and we have fun being together along the way. -Mike Whitacre Upper School Principal TH E PL ACE S YO U’ L L G O
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admissions process can-and should-be a journey of self-discovery and a portal into an exciting new world, but it may also be a source of anxiety and confusion. Because as Dr. Seuss wrote, and he might have been thinking of our talented, hardworking students, “with your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.” With their bilingual diploma, and often armed with joint French/US citizenship, doors are open all over the world for our students—and they take advantage of quite an array of them: we currently have students doing undergraduate degrees in Ireland, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Italy, three Canadian provinces, and 18 U.S. states, not to mention students on study abroad years in more far-flung corners of the world such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. The subjects they are pursuing are equally varied, a reflection of their extraordinarily broad secondary education: medicine, law, business, and engineering to be sure, but also literature and film, nursing, computer science, psychology, foreign languages, jazz performance, veterinary medicine, sociology, neuroscience, and some ingenious combinations such as a double major in physics & philosophy. Interdisciplinary degrees such as international development and biomedical science attract growing numbers of students, as do the broad liberal arts and science degrees now on offer in the U.K. and the Netherlands. Even France now offers a surprising variety of dual or bilingual degrees within or among universities, or between a university and prépa. Yet this tantalizing array of options can also be daunting and perhaps especially so for students who pretty much completed their entire schooling in the relatively sheltered, if sophisticated, environs of the Lycée International. In most sections, the students have historically returned to their home country or remained in France. Not so in ours, where more than half of each graduating class heads off to a country where neither they nor their parents may have ever lived. 10
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Evolution of mention rates 2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
Très bien
41%
40%
49%
44%
31%
25%
16%
20%
28%
22%
Bien
41%
47%
39%
37%
56%
36%
38%
44%
39%
39%
Assez bien
14%
11%
10%
19%
9%
24%
37%
32%
30%
32%
No mention
3%
2%
2%
0%
4%
15%
10%
3%
4%
7%
Navigating the Ups and Downs of University Admissions The process of university admissions is both exciting and intense for everyone involved. In addition to wanting a program where their children will thrive, parents worry about their future happiness and careers, how they will handle rejection, how they’ll cope on their own. Amongst themselves, they’re concerned about how they’re going to pay for it, whether they’re going to fight over it-and of course, they worry about how they’ll cope, too. These are all valid anxieties to have. University is expensive. The high unemployment rates among young people leaves everyone less sanguine about allowing students to simply study what they love. And if students are ambitious-as they should be-yes, they risk hearing ‘No’ at least once. Yet I assure class after class of apprehensive Terminales, everyone gets in somewhere and if we all do our jobs right, it’s usually somewhere they’re going to be happy and successful. So what does it take to ‘do the job right?’ Setting the Stage for a Successful Application In a word, time. We organize information sessions with parents, meet individually with families, host university and alumni visits, and run workshops on writing U.S.-style personal essays or U.K.style personal statements to familiarize students with the college admissions process and maximize their chances for success. Later in the process, we translate references, prepare school reports, research schools on behalf of students, liaise with universities to sell them on the remarkable diploma that is the OIB, and the high English proficiency levels of our students. Time spent translating references, preparing school reports, researching schools on behalf of students, and liaising with universities to sell them on the remarkable diploma that is the OIB, and the high Très bien English proficiency levels of our students. Bien But most of the time comes from the students Assez bien and families themselves, because in five years at this job, I’ve never come across two students (even No mention identical twins) in exactly the same circumstances. Family background, academic and extra-curricular interests, personality, and of course finance, all come into play. I have students looking to join varsity-level fencing teams at U.S. universities, students who are synchronized swimmers and team handball players. Students who want to study two seemingly opposite subjects-math and music, physics and philosophy, chemistry and theatre. A typical request might be: ‘I’m interested in studying sociology and literature but my parents want me to study economics or business, too and I’d like to do a year abroad in Spain. I’m looking for a residential campus in a major city, for less than 20,000€ a year.’
Class of 2016 Baccalauréat Results S
ES
L
TOTAL
%
15
6
3
24
41%
13
9
2
24
41%
3
4
1
8
14%
1
1
0
2
3%
32
20
6
58
“Out there things can happen, and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along. You’ll start happening too.”
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Keeping an Open Mind My first piece of advice to students is to be flexible. It might be that the right fit for all their criteria is in the Netherlands-and they want to be in an English-speaking country. It might be that the U.S. school that’s going to offer them the great scholarship will be in the Midwest and not in the Northeast corridor. It might be that London, while a terrific place to live, just isn’t going to provide the sense of community and support that a particular student really needs to thrive. It might be that the most idyllic liberal arts college campus setting feels just so totally alien that the student decides he or she can never fit in there, and leaves. Having encountered all of those scenarios, I’ve come to realize that students need to really question themselves to figure out where they are truly going to thrive. Some schools’ reputations may impress your classmates and your parents’ friends (heck, and even you) but they’re not the ones going to college there-you are. Often it’s the students who have ventured the furthest off the beaten path who end up the happiest-to be there in the first place means there had to have been a good reason. Students also need to be decisive. Students who apply to too many places are spreading their efforts too thinly to adequately prepare for those admissions processes or thoughtfully research their choices. We ask students to limit their choices to eight viable Anglophone options worldwide. Families also need time to do their research, to visit schools and talk to alumni, and then to prepare a compelling application. It’s hard to find the time for that amidst the all-consuming nature of the OIB in the final two years. Again, often the students who are the most successful are not just the ones who know themselves best but who factor in the necessary time, often over summers, to get ready so that they can hit the ground running when they start Terminale.
University Destinations of American Section Graduates 2007 - 2016
University Destinations of American Section Graduates 2007-2016
160 140
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
2016
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2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
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What Is the OIB Worth? The OIB is an opportunity, but it’s also a challenge. It exempts students from English proficiency requirements in most countries, and it provides a broad enough foundation that most students can keep all their options open through senior year. Yet it also means that we’re trying to shoehorn our students into application processes that weren’t designed for them. English students only study three subjects in their final year so they go into much greater depth, which makes it hard for our students to compete at interviews or on subject examinations. U.S. students have more time for sports or artistic activities, while some of our students’ strengths in those areas never get fully developed due to the intensity of their academic program. Canada’s sole admissions criteria are the students’ transcripts, but French teachers compose their comments with little regard for how the McGill admissions committee will be appreciating them a year down the road. Sometimes students are overly confident, convinced that a high grade point average and positive remarks will win them admissions to top-level universities in the U.S. and U.K., when other factors, like extra-curriculars and background, are heavily weighted in those applications. Some students are overly pessimistic, convinced that they’ll never get in anywhere with a 12 average or with SAT scores under 1400. I urge students to be realistic, but aspirational, and remind them that in the end, it’s not so much where they go as what they do when they get there that matters in the long run. To return to Dr. Seuss, ‘Out there things can happen, and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along. You’ll start happening too.’ Because the only thing worse than starting an essay with a quote is … ending with one. -Catherine Boalch, University Counselor
University Destinations Class of 2016 AUSTRALIA (1) University of Sydney CANADA (6) Bishop’s University McGill University (3) Ryerson University University of Toronto ENGLAND (19) Imperial College London King’s College London (4) London School of Economics University of Bath (3) University of Bristol University of Exeter (2) University of Leeds University of Loughborough University of Oxford University of Surrey University of Sussex University of Warwick (2) FRANCE (11) Ecole d’Infirmières - Hôpital de St. Germain Lycée Blomet Lycée Henri IV (2) Lycée Hoche Ste. Geneviève (3) Université Paris V, Descartes Université Paris VI, PMC Ecole d’Architecture Val de Seine IRELAND (1) University College Dublin SCOTLAND (1) St. Andrew’s SWITZERLAND (2) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Ecole Hôteliere de Lausanne UNITED STATES of AMERICA (15) Brown University Colby College DePaul University Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Emory University Georgetown University Northeastern University (2) Stanford University Swathmore College Trinity College University of North Carolina Wake Forest University Wellesley College Yale University GAP YEAR (2)
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Taylor Mali
Bringing Reading and Writing to Life “My most memorable Writer in Residence was back in 4th grade when John Agee came to talk to us. I remember him mastering the Smartboard in a matter of minutes when the Section teachers still had a hard time with it. He drew an octopus sprawled out on a couch and taught us a bunch of palindromes. I remember going home and asking my mom if we could buy one of his books!” Casey Hebert, Première “My favorite WIR was Jon Agee because he enjoyed reading his books aloud numerous times, and he was a man with a lot of energy, enough to answer most of our questions.” Benedict Van den bussche, Quatrième “My favorite Writer in Residence by far was Jon Agee. He was awesome and he made it an entertaining and fun experience. It also was hilarious and creative.” Nadia Jade Hua, Quatrième
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Jon Agee
Our students are encouraged to read and write every day through our robust literature and library programs, but nothing brings the excitement of reading and writing home to them quite like meeting an author, poet or illustrator. The Writer in Residence Program, funded by Friends of ASALI, was inaugurated in 2008 with a visit from children’s author and illustrator Laura Numeroff. During three days the beloved creator of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and many other books, amazed our youngest students with her wonderful illustrations and stories. The event was such a success that we have continued to host a visiting author every year since, rotating between Lower, Middle and Upper School. The following year was equally successful when awardwinning author Neal Shusterman regaled our Middle School students--transporting them to the dystopian worlds of the Everlost Series or into the life of Ansty, a nondescript boy with real world problems in The Schwa Was Here. Neal led the students in writer’s workshops, culminating with the creation of their own stories. The students were thrilled to talk to Neal about his books and his inspiration for writing. Neal most recently won the National Book Award for his new book, Challenger Deep. Our Upper School students discovered the seedy underworld of India and Pakistan with investigative journalist, Scot Carney, learning first hand of the Red Market. Students and adults were shocked to learn of a town in India where nearly everyone had sold a kidney just to support their families, or where people sell their hair to American wig makers, or skeletons to western medical schools. The Red Market was the culmination of five years of investigation which highlighted a world most people never see. Writing teachers, Pat Schneider and Cathy Nogent inspired our students to delve into themselves to write and create. Working with writing teachers like Pat Schneider who believes “every person is a writer, and every writer deserves a safe environment in which to experiment, learn, and develop craft” captivates our students and encourages them to think about themselves as writers.
Poet Taylor Mali enthralled Middle and Upper School students with his spoken word performances. The poet, best known for his work What Teachers Make, taught students to create and perform their own poetry in workshops, pushing them to the edge of their comfort zones as they performed in front of their peers. The parents’ evening allowed the entire community to benefit from Taylor’s visit. In other years, Lower School students were enchanted by illustrators Jon Agee and Catherine Stock who created their fabulous drawings before their eyes. Jon Agee’s humorous renderings of language games like palindromes, spoonerisms, and anagrams in works like Elvis Lives heartily entertained the children. Catherine Stock transported the students to Africa through her exquisite illustrations into the lives of orphaned elephants given a second chance. The younger students became illustrators themselves as they drew fabulous elephants of their own. The Writer in Residence program truly is a worthy endeavor that allows our students to step outside the four walls of the classroom into far reaching places, or into their imaginations, to create poetry or writings inspired by experts in the field. The contact with authors working in the real world brings reading and writing to life for the students in a magical way. -Amy Christ, Head Librarian and Media Specialist
Neil Schusterman
Catherine Stock
Laura Numeroff
“I really liked Taylor Mali. His magnetic presence on stage and the life he breathed into his poems by performing them was eye opening.” Juliette Simon, Terminale “My favorite Writer in Residence was Catherine Stock, who visited when I was in 5th grade. She told us about her life in Africa, and I was hypnotized by her fascinating story.” Chloe Pénot, Sixième “Meeting Laura Numeroff was exciting for me, as I was then an avid reader of her books. I remember that she signed my copy of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and was very nice about it.” Emilie Shagrin, Première
Visiting Speakers Series Beyond our Writer in Residence program, which rotates through each of the divisions of the school every three years, we are also occasionally able to bring exciting minds to campus through our Visiting Speaker series. Bestselling authors, Rachel Harper (Brass Ankle Blues, This Side of Providence) and Rebecca Walker (Adé, Black White and Jewish, Baby Love) spoke to our Terminale students about what it means to make a living as a writer this past October. Each author read from her own works, talked about the writing process and answered thoughtprovoking questions from our students. Both writers talked in depth about composition and imagination, but also about how to choose one’s path creatively and professionally. Our discussion was powerful and memorable, a perfect way to send our oldest students off to think about their fast-approaching next steps. -Catherine Reed, Head of English
Rachel Harper (left) and Rebecca Walker (2nd right) with Terminale students
“On Wednesday October 19th, two writers, Rachel Harper and Rebecca Walker came to talk to our Terminale class, and this was by far my most memorable author visit. These two incredibly talented writers gave us the privilege of reading to the audience. I have always loved hearing books read aloud, but hearing them be read by their authors embeds the text with an even greater emotional value, reaching out to the audience in the most intimate way. It is almost as if time stops, as if breathing slows, and an alcove is created as the writer brings us into their most personal space: the inner voice. We suddenly understand every word, every punctuation mark, and the text becomes real. Not because it is read, but because it is felt, and because we suddenly seem to understand that words come from a place of experience, of emotion. In a very profound exchange, Rachel and Rebecca created this moment for us, in a way that I had never experienced before.” -Emilie Briot, Terminale
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Right: Naomi Sadoff ‘11 in the South African bush Center: Edward de Fouchier ‘10, with Adam Cox ‘10 and Simon Behr ‘10, delivering milk in Senegal
Global citizenship and Summer Scholar Awards
The goal of the Summer Awards program is to enable recipients to play dynamic roles in the world, by developing their leadership abilities and sense of responsibility towards others. Over the past nine years, some forty students have been honored with a grant. Their projects have ranged from building latrines in a Nepalese village to studying global warming in Iceland, and renovating an orphanage in Ghana. Students most often return from their summer undertakings empowered and resolute in their desire to make a difference. We followed up with two Global Citizen Award winners, Naomi Sadoff ’11 and Edward de Fouchier ’10, to examine the long-term impact of their Global Citizen project. Wildlife, and in particular African wildlife, has always been Naomi Sadoff’s passion. She used her Global Citizen Award to work on two projects in South Africa. The first, Daktari Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage, takes in injured and orphaned animals in order to care for them, and then release them whenever possible. Each week, kids from the local village are welcomed at Daktari, and taught about the importance of wildlife and how to protect it. Her second project was with Siyafunda Wildlife & Conservation. There she spent every day out on drive, monitoring the wildlife. This involved counting numbers of animals, but also writing down information such as GPS location, sex, age, and health of the individuals. The Siyafunda project in particular had a profound effect on Naomi. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with a degree in Environmental Sciences, and in July 2015 she moved to South Africa to complete a field guide course with Bushwise Field Guides, and spent the next seven months working at a volunteer project as a guide. She is now back in the U.K. where she has begun an MSc in Biodiversity & Conservation at the University of Leeds. “If there is one thing that had a big impact on my post-lycée trajectory it is definitely my time in South
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Africa for the GCA. Once I learned about the Field Guide course I knew that it was the direction I wanted to take. The question was just when and where.” She plans to return to South Africa at some point in the near future. Edward de Fouchier built his Global Citizen project with classmates William Puyo ’10 and Simon Behr ’10. They interned for the largest women’s savings bank in India and drew on that experience to establish a microfinance component that was to link fundraising capabilities in France to loan recipient selection capabilities in India. The project didn’t work out, as it was insufficiently thought out in terms of potential partnerships and the concrete process of finding loan recipients. “But that was only half the point: it was exhilarating being in such a different place, with such perceived autonomy, and realizing for the months and even years afterwards that that kind of entrepreneurship was a possible course for the future.” Today Edward is in Senegal, working for a company that is building a local dairy industry in a country where 30% of the population lives off traditional herding, but 90% of the milk is imported. It is now the second biggest dairy company in Senegal and growing. Edward is developing a premium homedelivery business with its own brand, commercial team, and industrial line within the company. He finds it both exciting and meaningful, “building a competitive business to answer local needs with local means.” For him the global citizenship programs left their trace in the sense that when he made the decision to move to Senegal, he questioned WHY the factors that guided his decision were not a major concern for his peers at Harvard. The American Section Global Citizenship program forced him to question, “why we do what we do,” early in life, an approach he finds invaluable. - Margaret Jenkins, Assistant Director for Development Communications and External Relations
SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD
Project Khushi: Promoting Education for Girls in Delhi
Juliette (center, in white) and Harshida (next to her, in green)
Is generosity ever enough? Can kindness or giving be ever quantified? Shouldn’t we all give back to the society from which we have taken so much? With these questions in mind, we started building Project Khushi. The drive for this project was a desire to promote education for young girls. Many impoverished Indian girls stop their education the moment they go through puberty, out of embarrassment, fear and lack of understanding. It is important that they continue their education despite growing into womanhood. Project Khushi is an initiative to change traditional beliefs about feminine hygiene, and to push for a better understanding and acceptance of it. We also wanted to contribute our time to teach mathematics, science and English-- and to promote global connectivity-- to give these children keys to the world. In August, we taught at Rashtrahit Vidyalaya (RV) and the Karuna Evening School. Rashtrahit Vidyalaya has five schools, teaching approximately 500 students each, and Karuna evening school teaches nearly 40 and is run by Harshida’s grandmother. We were amazed to see the generosity of so many people giving their time, energy and money for the benefit of the children of unemployed, under-employed or impoverished people. Our objective was to buy laptops for these schools, to renovate the bathrooms, and to provide an annual supply of sanitary napkins for the girls at RV. We also needed to
fund our airfare to Delhi. Our target was to raise 4000€. We got a wonderful start by winning Global Citizen Award of 1500€, and were able to raise another 2709€ though the Lycee en Fête, the ASALInk, and crowdfunding. Additionally, we were very lucky to be introduced to ‘Helping Hands’ through an American Section parent. They agreed to fund the hygiene seminar and to supply sanitary napkins for the girls at RV schools. We were thrilled to receive vouchers from Air France worth 1200€, as our flight to India ran into problems with an Air France strike. We arrived in India with the sizeable sum of 5959€ that we put to very good use. Once at the school, we had to scrap our original teaching plans. We learned that the classroom was like a battlefield: you had to be tactful, adapt to new setbacks, and change your method of dealing with situations very fast. We quickly adapted our plan, our style of teaching, and had to do so every few minutes, as the kids’ interests evolved. As part of our project, we renovated the girls’ bathroom and managed to get a flush toilet installed for the boys’ bathroom, too. The project concluded as we held the seminar on menstruation for all the girls at RV. We explained what menstrual hygiene is, showed them an educational video in Hindi. We were accompanied by a gynecologist who gladly answered the girls’ questions in detail. Later on, we distributed lunch and a packet of pads to each girl. We learned tremendously from this project right from TH E PL ACE S YO U’ L L G O
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building the plan proposal, to raising funds, negotiating with various stakeholders and then executing the project. It was an extremely exhilarating and unforgettable experience. The love we got from the kids in the form of cards and hugs gave us happiness beyond words. We are aware that we may not have completely changed the kids’ lives in these three weeks; however, if we made small changes in their conception of the world, by showing
SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD: This summer 2016, I spent two weeks at the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) program doing the Politics, Law, and Economics session at Yale University. It was memorable, engaging, and productively intellectual from start to finish. I chose this program because for all of my life I have wanted to be a world leader and make a positive political impact. The tools to achieve this are deep knowledge in politics, law, and economics. I wanted to confirm my passion for this, hence my participation in YYGS. The rigorous course was filled with daily lectures by esteemed professors, experts in their respective fields, in huge auditoriums with all of the program attendees. These were, of course, complemented by daily discussions in smaller groups in order to tackle unanswered questions and delve more deeply into the subject matter at hand. In addition, we also had seminars that we choose from a comprehensive and extensive list of options. These seminar topics ranged from Thomas Hobbes’s Political Philosophy to discussions on internet privacy and cyber warfare. Since the seminar choices were personalized, everyone wanted to be in their group and was fascinated with the topic. This greatly improved the intellectual level of discussion. The conversations conducted outside of the guided seminar environment, and among the students during meals or freetime were equally captivating. This summer program occurred during an interesting time in world history-- in parallel to our amateur debates, the presidential candidacy for the Democratic and Republican party was being decided, the BREXIT vote was happening, and there was a terrorist bombing at the airport in Istanbul. These global events of great magnitude really produced a sort of urgency in our discussions; we would need to decide now because our opinions mattered and it was up to us to change the world. This empowered us. All of the attendees were driven, passionate, and intelligent: I loved being with them. Apart from supplying me with important knowledge, both historical and current, in the fields of politics, law, and economics, this program has also given me concrete skills such as speed reading, logical reasoning, debate, and presentation. I learned how to better carry myself and
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them the Olympics on the laptop screens, or by discussing our different cultures, it will have been completely worth the effort. We would like to thank all donors, including the American Section, for helping us follow through with this project. Every single one of your donations has been a precious investment in a child’s education and future. -Harshida Kohli & Juliette Simon, Terminale
My Summer at YYGS express my ideas in a clear and concise manner. Spanning the two weeks was the infamous Capstone project. An outlet to apply the theoretical concepts, it was a specific research project designed for us to delve deeply into a subject and to improve our research and academic writing skills. The TedTalk was also an opportunity for us to improve public speaking. Socially, fun, drama, excitement, and activities were in no shortage. Our free time was filled with countless wonderful moments that have bonded us all forever. These life long friendships will remain in memory longer than the minute details of the Madison vs. Marbury case. Part of my daily routine was to go to the Whitney Payne Gym every morning for an intense workout with my friends. The facilities were amazing, housing every sport in existence. We lived at the historical Pierson College in the vibrant city of New Haven. Cafes, restaurants and shopping from all around the world were right at our feet. From 3am insomnia cookie binge
Grace (
sessions, to the final talent show, to impromptu football matches on the quad, and late night karaoke, it was definitely as fun as it was instructive. The YYGS program truly gave me the opportunity to confirm my passion in Politics, Law, and Economics and I now have a more exact view of what studies I will be doing after high school. Of course, this would not have been possible without the American Section community, so thank you. -Grace Baghdadi, Première
Laura (second from left)
SUMMER SCHOLAR AWARD
Musical Theater at the Cornish Playhouse
Music is very important to me and it is a large part of who I am. So walking across Seattle Center to the Cornish Playhouse for my first day of a 90-hour musical theater course, I was both nervous and excited. I soon discovered that we would be staging and performing a showcase with numbers drawn from the history of musical theater. However this wouldn’t be just any showcase; in honor of the 2016 elections and America’s first female presidential nominee, the director was staging a political cabaret called “White House Women,” featuring women in politics and musical theater from the 1920s to the present. Through song and dance, Little Orphan Annie would instruct FDR’s cabinet and the Reagan administration would badmouth the E.R.A. All of us learned to dance the Charleston in “Keeping Cool with Coolidge”, and sing the Opening from “The First Lady Suite.” One of my parts was a pageant director who won the heart of President Wintergreen with her delicious corn muffins! One Friday morning, after an improv session on current events and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we all brainstormed and wrote an original song about how we felt about the upcoming election. This really resonated with everyone because most of the participants of the camp were turning 18 and voting for the first time in November. We were lucky to be able to train with working actors and dancers who also gave us insight into what casting directors were looking for in an audition, and what it took to be a professional in the business. We sang 32-bar songs as if we were actually auditioning for a show, learned different styles of choreography, yoga, and acrobatics, as well as the context behind the musicals. Our teachers functioned as a team and taught us to do so too, giving us the opportunity to take on the roles of actors, dancers, directors,
and composers. One of the best things about participating in the summer theater intensive is that everyone there eats, sleeps, and breathes musicals. These are the kind of kids who are passionate about theater. They know obscure scores by heart, and don’t hesitate to burst into song while walking down the street. I felt right at home! I learned so much from my teachers and my classmates, and attending the course gave me a great opportunity to gain practical experience of the performing arts at a pre-professional level. Of course I was glad to earn two college credits from Cornish, but that wasn’t the most important takeaway. I realized during the summer intensive that I really wanted to major in theater, and I hope that afterwards, I can find work in the field of the performing arts. Nowadays, liberal arts or creative arts aren’t seen as a wise investment for future college students, because they don’t provide technical or professional training and they don’t necessarily ensure job prospects for graduates. I believe that the arts and humanities can cut across cultural and economic barriers and bridge social and educational divides. They certainly broaden our experience and have a way of developing our understanding and awareness. They give us an opportunity for selfexpression and at the same time encourage peer collaboration. Great literature, theater, movies, and art all transport us to other worlds. Steve Jobs once said, “Technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” I am so very grateful that the American section granted me the opportunity to make my heart sing with the Summer Scholars Award. Thank you! -Laura Manoukian, Terminale
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Kassiopé: Improving lives one pair of glasses at a time. In 2015, I participated in the India Exchange with the Mahatma Gandhi International School, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Back in France, I found that my cozy St.Germain-en-Laye bubble had been popped, and my eyes opened to the two-way street of service to others. So, Kassiopé, a certified non-profit French
organization was born. I set off, accompanied by three friends, with the belief that the betterment of marginalized communities relies on two key factors: education and health. We settled on the health issue of eyesight, which impedes literacy and diminishes one’s quality of life as everyday tasks become a challenge. Our objectives were to set up a mobile optometry clinic, carry out eye tests and offer free glasses to those in need. We also wanted our project to be sustainable, to continue to benefit the community for years to come. The hurdles for implementing this project were numerous: language barriers, getting internships to learn about eye exams, purchasing equipment and massive number of reading glasses, finding funds (such as the American Section’s incredible contribution of 1500€ as part of the Global Citizen Scholarship program), We were also all in Première
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with classes, homework, and a TPE to do. In mid-July, after a year of preparation, we finally set off on our three-week journey. We stayed at a local well-respected community center called Manav Sadhna. We were lodged in a small house there and proceeded to work 12 hours a day to implement our program at several of Manav Sadhna’s “satellite centers.” Our goal was to screen approximately 250 children. We are proud to say that by the end of our stay, we equipped 450 children from five different centers with glasses. Furthermore, though it was the most ambitious and complex aim of our project, the training of a local volunteer to maintain the clinic after our departure, was also a success. He carried out the 750th eye test by the beginning of September. We are pleased to say that we have attained our objective; our project is sustainable. Parallel to our objectives of service, we had an objective of inner growth. At Manav Sadhna, self reflection and mindfulness became a lifestyle. The men and woman we met were simply inspiring, some through their testimonies and words, some through the emotions they transmitted, and all by their humanity. Never was any opportunity refused, new encounters, new activities, new smells, tastes, sounds, all our senses were flooded with new vibes and experiences. Whether it be meditation sessions, tea, soccer games with adolescents in the slums, visiting Hindu temples, martial arts classes, cooking as volunteers in a cafe; all new experiences were welcome. It’s been five months since we’ve returned from Ahmedabad, and India still mirrors our reflections every day. It’s in our food, on the roads, at dinner, in our classrooms, in our houses, in our ideas, opinions, self-questioning. These three weeks hold sway by their incredibly enriching and contrasted experiences. In summary, thank you to all of you, and especially to the American Section for having helped us to achieve this ambitious project of service and inner-growth. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” - Mahatma Gandhi -Matthew Morvan, Terminale for the Kassiopé Team
S UM M E R S CHOL ARS AWARD:
Going Green in Chicago
Thanks to the American Section, I was able to go to the University of Chicago to get a preview of the rhythm of college life. My course was entitled: “Going Green, A Business Case for Sustainability.” The course made the link between economics, business and environmental sustainability. It taught us how these three notions are indispensable to make progress in our current society. One of our teachers owned two companies and taught us how to evaluate a corporation’s carbon footprint as well as their reliability. We analyzed their reports and numerous resources (such as accounting firms) evaluating their transparency. We were also able to discuss sustainability with some very powerful companies, for instance McDonald’s or KPMG. Our other teacher focused on the environmental crisis we are currently facing and how nature is drastically undervalued. I learned much from these three weeks. College in the U.S. yielded in me a mixture of excitement and curiosity; it was and is a wonderful way to learn about anything. What I enjoyed above all was the quality of education. My teachers weren’t just teachers; most of them work in the field, which makes their lectures more relevant and unique. One of my teachers owned her own advising firm and would regularly show us how what we learned in class applied to her own company. Consequently, these lectures broke the wall between knowledge and reality. Moreover, the facilities in which students work are modern and filled with exciting technologies, which make learning a pleasure. For example, each class in the business department makes available two projectors, which allows students to create comparative slides that render presentations more effective. Another positive aspect to the summer program is the originality of the courses. All of them combine “basic” courses with modern touches like economics and biotechnology mixed with sustainability. As a result, students are always exposed to different subjects, which allows them to “think outside of the box.” This interdisciplinary approach was wonderful for me and taught me much about what I want to do after high school, as well as where I’d like to spend years of my life studying something I truly enjoy.
Jacques (back center, in baseball cap)
GLO BAL CI TI Z EN AWARD
- Established by the Class of 2007 - First award granted in 2008 - 32 students have benefited - a total of 20,000€ has been awarded S UM M ER S CHO L ARS AWARD
- Established by the Class of 2013 - First awards granted in 2014 - 8 students have benefited - a total of 7,500€ has been awarded Thank you to Friends of ASALI for their continued support of the Summer Awards program.
-Jacques Singer, Première
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Meg Pierce
Tifany Champouillon
Christian Vachon
Alix Chambaz
Milo Sobral
Teaches Sixième, Cinquième, Quatrième and Troisième Language and Literature, and Seconde History
Teaches CE1, CE2 and CM2
Teaches Seconde, Première and Terminale Language and Literature
Terminale Student
Terminale Student
- Orléans - Aix en Provence - Versailles - Orléans - Vernon - Rueil-Malmaison - London, England - Nancy - St. Germain-en-Laye
- Versailles, France - Puerto Rico - Morocco - Mexico - New York, NY - St. Germain-en-Laye
- Detroit, Michigan - San Diego, CA - Sarasota, FL - San Diego, CA - Trinidad and Tobago - Republic of Macedonia - San Diego, CA - Lome, Togo - Abidjan, Ivory Coast - St. Germain-en-Laye “I wanted my family to become fully bilingual in French as well as English and I quickly fell in love with the American Section community during my visit. I like St. Germain-en-Laye, because I get a little taste of city and a little taste of country. I like being close to Paris, without being in the middle of the city madness. I love having the forest to walk in and seeing the horses out grazing in the field. I love that the town is so pedestrian-friendly. I like that there are tons of playgrounds and that the grocery stores are so close. I love the old ladies walking down the street with their carts on the way to and from the market and every time I see them, I think to myself, people live happily and healthily forever here.”
- Maryland - Honolulu, Hawaii - Clarksville, TN - Ft. Campbell, KY - Hawaii - Marietta, GA - St. Davids, PA - Heredia, Costa Rica - Alexandria, VA - Baltimore, MD - St. Germain-en-Laye “I moved to St. Germain for a new experience. My husband and I have traveled a lot independently and together and we wanted our son to experience another culture, language and way of life. I also came to work at Lycée International. I love that there are many things to do as a family. We find ourselves walking a lot, visiting parks together and meeting with other families.”
Compiled by Emilie Briot, Terminale
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- Connecticut - New York - Rhode Island - Vermont - Costa Rica - Cairo, Egypt - Florence, Italy - St. Germain-en-Laye “When I lived in Egypt, Paris was one of the cities I came to in order to restore my faith in the world. I would take long walks and think about the prospect of one day living here. After visiting the Lycée it was the warm spirit and enthusiasm of colleagues here that made me confident that this was the right decision.”
“My family moved to Paris for my dad’s work, but I live in St. Germain-en-Laye with a host family in order to go to the Lycée Inter. And yes, I really like the the school and the town!“
“I move around thanks to my dad’s job. So far, I loved coming back to France and like St-Germain-en-Laye!”
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Where They Have Come From There are many well-travelled new faces in the American Section this year! We would like to present the remarkable paths our six new faculty members, as well as the two new Terminale students, took to arrive in St. Germain-en-Laye.
Sophie Deutsch
Christina Hauser
Caitlin Echasserieau
Teaches Quatrième Language Literature
Teaches Sixième and Cinquième Language and Literature
Teaches, Mat. 3, CE1, CE2
- New York, NY - Providence, RI - New York, NY - Paris - St. Germain-en-Laye “We really like the town (even though I miss Paris!) because it’s a great place to raise kids. There are so many places to walk around in nature and the town itself is quite an easy and charming place to live. We also enjoy the international aspect of the town, where we hear lots of languages in the street.”
- Los Angeles CA - New Orleans LA - Orlando, FL - Abilene, Houston, Dallas, TX - Oslo, Norway - St. Germain-en-Laye “I came to France with my family for work purposes. I really like the cultural activities and the shopping and markets. I also like the architecture; it almost feels like the big city at times. I especially like the international school where I feel valued as a contributing member of the community.”
- Philadelphia, PA - Fort Worth, TX - Grinnell, IN - New York, NY - Amherst, MA - Paris - Noumea, New Caledonia - St Denis, Reunion - Delhi, India - St. Germain-en-Laye “We decided to move to St. Germain-en-Laye so that our two sons could attend the American Section. What do I like about this town? I like the proximity to both Paris and the forest. I like the choice of restaurants (Indian!). I also like how international it is and that the city really celebrates that. I like that the people are friendly.”
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ANNUAL FUND 2016 What do our students get from their American Section Lycée International experience? A rigorous bilingual education infused with American pedagogy and culture, one that recognizes them as valuable individuals while developing their self-confidence and intellectual curiosity. It is also an education that launches them out into the wide world. When they are in Terminale, students painstakingly deliberate the post-graduate merits of France, Canada, England, the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany. Later in life, as Lycée International alumni, the world is truly their stage. Our graduates not only live and work across the four corners of the earth; in all they do, they embody the spirit of cultural and intellectual curiosity, confident global citizens ready to tackle life’s challenges. Our annual development report recognizes those members of our community who have contributed to fundraising efforts designed to ensure that the next generations of American Section students acquire this invaluable mindset. Programs and projects funded by generous donations are critical to our students’ educational experiences. The imminent Lycée International reconstruction project will, in the not so distant future, give us ample opportunity to use our healthy donation reserves to design facilities better equipped for our students’ instructional and developmental needs. Many thanks to the parents, members of faculty and staff, and alumni listed below. Your annual gifts to the American Section allow us to educate children who will go places and move mountains. -Fabienne Aschenbroich Chair, Board Development Committee
Key Statistics 2015-2016 Total Annual Fund Income: 101, 261€ up 10% from last year Total Fundraising Income: 139,146€ up 10% from last year
Annual Fund Evolution 101,261€
100,000€
91,216€ 80,000€
73,465€ 59,943€
54,982€ 55,664€
60,000€
66,605€ 57,144€
50,570€ 40,000€
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29,720€
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CC OO MM PA S SS SMM AG AA Z IZNI N EE PA AG
20,000€
0 2006-7
2007-8
2008-9
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
Your donations are making the following possible: Financial Aid: 17,328€ Strategic Plan Initiatives 49,630€ Curriculum Mapping Accreditation In-Service Day Technology (37,896€) Program Enhancements 16,748€
Where Donations will be Spent
Fundraising Expenses 13,440 €
Financial Aid 17,328 €
Office Rennovations 7,130 €
Strategic Plan Initiatives 11,734 €
Program Enhancements 16,738 €
Health Program Writer in Residence Terminale Class Trip Summer Awards
Technology 37,896 €
Office Renovations : 7,130€ Fundraising Expenses : 13,440€
Program Supporters up to 249€ Laure & Matthieu ACCOLAS David ADOUTTE Bertrand ARTAUD * Charlotte & Guillaume BECLE Valérie & Pierre BIVAS Delphine MONTAZEAUD & Vincent BORDMANN Saliha & Azzedine BOUBGUIRA Kellie BOURQUE John BURKE Karine & Stéphane CALLE Liwen & Bernard CAMUSEAU Jean-Noel CARTIER Andrea & Omar CHAHID Lea & Laurent CHAMBAUD-BOUDET Delphine LALIZOUT & Benoït CHAMPION Hélène & Chris CLARK Cristina & Claudio COCCHIS Min Hua SUN CORCESSIN Alexandre COSQUER Adrienne & Richard COVINGTON Karl COX * Amy & Philippe CRIST Michelle HOFFMAN & Maxime DAHAN Anja & Christian DELANNES Lisa DEMANGEAT Vanina & Sébastien DE PRENEUF Julien DESMOTTES Corinne BASQUET & Olivier DETOURBET Nagehan & Kemal ERDOGAN Parissa & Nima ESKANDARI Madeleine & Mark FLEMING* Sabrina LOI & Marc FOURNIER * Mary FRIEL Alexia & Shahin GASHTI Marie-Laure GASTELLU Frédérique GUIOT Sophie & Laurent GILHODES Isabelle & David GIRARDEAU
Christine & Matthieu GOULAY Michelle & Noé GREEN-LEVASSEUR Gabrielle GRIEB* Carla DAVIDOVICH & Douglas GRIFFIN Elizabeth & Arnaud GUERIN Lamia GUESSAB Yasmina HADERBACHE Kim MURPHY & Brahim HALMAOUI Beccy & Stuart HAUGEN Benjamin HECKSCHER Scot HICKS Sophie & Olivier HUET Julia & Olivier JAMART Charlotte JARQUIN Margaret JENKINS Alice & Emmanuel JOUSSELLIN Perrine & Sebastien JOUVIN Ashlie & Emmanuel KASPEREIT Catherine & Etienne LAVAUX Donna LE JONCOUR Cecile & Arnaud LE TIRAN Hélène & Ronan LE SAOUT Jacinthe BRILLET & Antoine LIMAGNE Sophie & Renaud MAGNAVAL Penelope MAXWELL Kate MC CARTHY Andrew MC GOVERN Marjolein & Bruce MEE Ana Cristina & Olivier MENARD Caroline SMITH & Matthieu MILGROM * Qi & Manuel MILLOT Varun & Shruti MISHRA Emilie & Sébastien MORAS Lisa STEPHENS-MORVAN Anna & Jules MULBERT Isabelle & Julien NAGINSKI Miranda NICHOLS Farila & Alain ODIN Kasumi & Stéphane PAILLAUD Catherine & Jean-Christophe PANDOLFI Isabelle & Douglas PENNER-LACOMPTE Maria José & Dionisio PEREZ-JACOME Anne & Christophe PEYMIRAT
Serina PIZIGO Anne PORQUET & Tangi QUEMENER Noriko KOBAYASHI & Nicolas POMPOURCQ Alexia & Pierre-Yves PROST Fanny FEREL & Fabien RAT Carine VASSY & Marc ROBERT Vanina & Alain ROBIC Janet & Bernard RUBINSTEIN Sheila & Mark SADOFF Hélène SALAÜN Sabine KENNEDY & Hugo SAYAG J.J. SEKOWSKI Segolène FINET & Drew SHAGRIN Valérie BENZAQUINE & George SHANTZEK Bénédicte SILIER Naida & Stan SIMOTA Laetetia & Bruno STAGNO Nathalie & Antoine TIRARD Yana & Eric TOFFIN Kathrine & Benjamin VIDET Anne-Claire & Guillaume VUILLARDOT Rachel STERN & Jonathan WHITNEY* Janice & Mike WHITACRE Chrystèle & Mark WINDRIDGE 3 anonymous donations * Alumni Donors
Corporate Sponsors
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Development Report
Community Builders 500€ to 999€ Yasmin & Francesco BALLARIN * Emmanuelle GRELIER & Samuel BONAMIGO Tara PATEL & Eric DESBLANCS Nicky & Eric DOLADILLE Sophie & Philppe DUFAY Christine & Brice ENGEL Isabelle & Thierry HERNU-SFEIR Marie & Thierry LETRILLIART Joséphine & Philippe LHUSSIER Joanna & Christophe MAINGUY Lennys OSPINO & Giorgio MILANO Carolyn & Eric PENOT Annelise & Jean-Paul RIVAL Laura MONROE-SINGER & Jean-Marie SINGER Nathalie & Stéphane SOUCHET Thirawan STYLEMANS Marèene PANES VIVEROS & Philippe TORDOIR Nancy & Alexandre TREMBLOT DE LA CROIX Martine & Christophe VOLARD Christine & Richard WASHINGTON Ursula LIU & Robert YOUNGBLOOD
Director’s Circle over 2500€ Lise & Bertrand DE FOUCHIER Ina & Jan DE WITTE * Isabelle & Pierre DEBRAY Mireille FRANCO & José ESTEVE OTEGUI Meenu & Amit KOHLI Katie & Jean-Christophe MIESZALA Jennifer DALRYMPLE & Luis ROTH Beth PAUL-SAUNIER & Mael SAUNIER Regina & Frédéric TARDY
5-Year Consecutive Donors ( * Ten year consecutive donor)
Sources of Fundraising Income 2015-2016 Club International 3% Other Corporate Sponsoring 1% Gala Corporate Sponsoring 4%
Fundraising Gala 36%
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Senior Class Gift 3%
Annual Fund 53%
Caroline & Indrajit BANERJEE Annette & Brooks BEAULIEU Carol & Pierre CAMBEFORT Catherine & Mark CORRIGAN Karl COX * Amy & Philippe CRIST Lise & Bertrand DE FOUCHIER Ina & Jan DE WITTE Anja & Christian DELANNES Eric DESBLANCS & Tara PATEL Catherine & Bill FAHBER Laurence & Laurent FISCHER Madeleine & Mark FLEMING Sabrina LOI & Marc FOURNIER Sophie & Laurent GILHODES Kimberly MOCK & Nordine HACHEMI Yasmina HADERBACHE Julia & Olivier JAMART Margaret JENKINS * Catherine & Olivier LETEURTRE * Adeline & John MATHIEU Marjolein & Bruce MEE Katie & Jean-Christophe MIESZALA Qi & Manuel MILLOT Carolyn & Eric PENOT Catherine & Dan REED Annelise & Jean-Paul RIVAL Jennifer DALRYMPLE & Luis ROTH Bénédicte SILIER Nathalie & Stéphane SOUCHET Nathalie & Antoine TIRARD Emmanuelle & Tom VAN DEN BUSSCHE Denise & Matthieu VAN VEEN Kathrine & Benjamin VIDET Christine & Richard WASHINGTON Janice & Mike WHITACRE Ursula LIU & Robert YOUNGBLOOD
Participation Rates
ASALI Benefactors 1000€ to 2499€ Fabienne & Jacques ASCHENBROICH * Laurence CAPELLI-BURDON & Ian BURDON Carol & Pierre CAMBEFORT Margaret DICKASON-CLAR & Philippe CLAR Catherine & Mark CORRIGAN Mildred & Philippe DELORME * Angélique & Jean-Benoît DEVAUGES Kimberly MOCK & Nordine HACHEMI Helen & Tom HICKEY Nora & Stephane HUSSON Adeline & John MATHIEU Stéphanie ANDRIEUX & Keith NEY Daniela MATSON & Chris NOWERS Stacie & Serge STEPANOV Jennifer TABARY Emmanuelle & Tom VAN DEN BUSSCHE Denise & Matthieu VAN VEEN
Matching Grants
100%
80% 70%
Capucine & Eric BÔNE Isabelle BRETHENOUX Ann & Christophe CHAUVEL-GOBIN Meriem & Nabil CHEBBI Catherine & Gabriel CORCORAN Maria CRAWFORD & Sami DAKHLIA * Stefano DI LULLO & Carrie Lee BROWN Kathleen & Gaël DOMINIQUE Karine & Jean-François DORIN Muriel ESCOLA FLOCH & Ronan FLOCH Catherine & Bill FAHBER Laurence & Laurent FISCHER Michelle & Thomas FISCHER Sharon & Marc FISCHLI Pilar & François FORTIN Laure & Antoine GENEVOIS Caroline & Séjean GHAFARI Anne-Laure & Anthony GIUSTINI * Sylvie & Etienne GRIMON Nathalie & Serge HEIDRICH Céleste CAPUTO & Frédéric HERMANS Jillian & Andrew HORVATH Cecile & Richard HULLIN Karina & Martin KOHLI Wendy & Randy LEMMERMAN Shuet Mui & Henry LEUNG Maryline & Franck MARILLY Colette MORAN & Ludovic MAUPAIN Véronique & John O’BRIEN Catherine & Dan REED Alice & Chris SANTEIU Isabelle & Joseph SIART Pien JAGER & Joost SMITS VAN WAESBERGHE Frédérique & Olivier TIREAU Lorraine & Paul WHITFIELD Pamela & Antoine WOLF 2 anonymous donations * Alumni Donors
74%
72%
60% 50% 47%
40% 30% 20% 10%
Friends of ASALI Board 2015-16 OFFICERS President: David Renard ‘91 Treasurer: Matt Milgrom ‘95 Secretary: Alexi Remnek ‘87
Section Partners 250€ to 499€
100%
90%
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 thank 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 non-profit 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
Board
Faculty/ Staff
Senior Class
Family
Senior Class Gift Anne, Bruno & Louise ASSELIN Isabelle, Jonathan & Louan BAKER Caroline, Indrajit & Milan BANERJEE Annette, Brooks & Charlotte BEAULIEU Patricia, Olivier & Floriane BLANC Capucine, Eric & Sixtine BONE Daniela, Peter & Apostol BOUJEV Isabelle & Maiwenn BRETHENOUX Marie, Michel & Sophie CHANOUX Amy, Philippe & Eloïse CRIST Sami & Claire DAKHLIA, Maria CRAWFORD Lise, Bertrand & Caroline DE FOUCHIER Dorian & Eric DESBLANCS, Tara PATEL Valérie, Anthony & Elisa EAGLETON Christine, Brice & Victor ENGEL Ada, Marc & Anne-Sophie FAYET Laurence, Laurent & Jean-Baptiste FISCHER Blandine, Marc & Toscane FISCHER Gaelle, Frédéric & Sacha GAUTHEY Isabelle, David & Solène GIRARDEAU Sylvie, Etienne & Pierrick GRIMON Sophie, Philippe & Emma GUERINET Sophie, Olivier & Ariane HUET Margaret JENKINS & Emma GHIGLIONE Elisabeth, Goran & Nicholas LAZOVIC Aneta & Misha LERSKA Catherine, Olivier & Théo LETEURTRE Ursula LIU & Anita YOUNGBLOOD Bernard & Isabella MANDIC Melanie, Frederic & Nicolas MIRAN Farila, Alain & Maxime ODIN Catherine, Jean-Christophe & Lili PANDOLFI Thierry and Claire PUJOL Laurence, Emmanuel & Antoine RAPIN Beatrice, Hubert & Caroline REYNIER Denis and Adrien ROYER, Michelle DE WOLFE Christian & Marius SCHUBERT, Teresa ADAMS Bénédicte & Violine SILIER Catherine, Ron & Anaïs SIMERAL Noëlle and Joost SMITS VAN WAESBERGHE, Pien JAGER Tiffany, Richard & Nicolas SNEL-WARK Fernando & Nicolas VELEZ, Maria-Giovanna LIMONGI
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bollywood night 2016 FUNDRAISING GALA
Lower School Principal, Beccy Haugen, crafted a stunning Dr. Seuss-inspired, wooden rocking chair for the Live Auction with her First Graders.
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Total Proceeds: 56,317€
M A Y
2 7 ,
2 0 1 6
The Pavillon Henri IV was transformed into dazzling India, complete with the sights, smells and sounds of the country. Most guests arrived bedecked in exotic Indian costume, producing an explosion of color amongst the heavily laden auction tables. Guests were treated to authentic Indian dances, with the most adventurous novices testing them out on the dance floor themselves. French Jeeper champagne flowing, the delicious dinner was Indian-inspired. By all accounts, this was our most flamboyant and exciting Gala ever: it was also the most profitable, as we broke yet another fundraising record.
Thank you to our incredible Gala Committee: Fabienne Aschenbroich, Sandrine Benyahia-Roussel, Lise Coronas, Jennifer Dalrymple, Caroline Ghafari, Gabrielle Grieb, Nora Husson, Margaret Jenkins, Alice Jousselin, Meenu Kohli, Sophie Magnaval, Daniela Matson, Lennys Milano, Virginie Narjollet, Carolyn Penot, Annelise Rival, Sabine Sayag, Leatitia Stagno, Regina Tardy and Denise van Veen for organizing such a pleasurable and worthwhile evening. Thank you as well to the thirty-five student volunteers who were instrumental in running the event. Lower School Principal, Beccy Haugen, crafted a stunning Dr. Seuss-inspired, wooden rocking chair for the Live Auction with her First Graders, while Art Teachers Lisa Demangeat and Alice Lamy showcased their students’ artwork by creating exquisite, limited edition greeting cards. Delphine Fremaux-Lejeune of Normandy Auction and our very own Middle School Principal, Adrienne Covington, orchestrated the evening’s highlight, a spirited Live Auction. We would also like to thank the many members of our community who made or facilitated auction donations, as well as our generous commercial sponsors. Without the significant and generous participation in the Gala, our school’s programs and projects would be seriously compromised. Our children are the direct beneficiaries of the funds raised at the Gala. To everyone who joined us, our heartfelt thanks!
PLATINUM SPONSORS
GOLD SPONSORS
Jennifer Dalyrmple and Luis Roth
SILVER SPONSORS AEG Bo Droga Camp California Champagne Jeeper La Boutique du Vélo Maryline Marilly Super U BENEFAC TOR Actor Conseil Frank RJ Golf de Fourqueux Josette Dujon (Baïa) Paris Wine Company Véronique Pion Jewelry PARTNER Angela Charbonnier Archea Placards Sandrine Benyahia-Roussel Big Apple Yoga BPS Tax Services Chais d’Oeuvre Desigual Dharma Yoga Ekyog Eric Bompard Horton Tax Services Le Manége Les Montants du Palais Les Pyramides Marjolein Martinot Photography Mathilde de Turkheim Jewelry Pavillon Henri IV Picnic in Paris Pierre Hermé Paris Plastic Omnium Yrsa Prietzel Raynald Baïa Sacks
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A L U M N I F O C U S The Lycée gives students an appetite for the world, and in this Alumni Focus, we have mapped out just how far they go.
Sanaë Lemoine ‘07 Right after graduation, I moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania. I thought I’d study visual arts and biology, but I ended up falling in love with creative writing and chose to major in English. In 2011, upon graduation, I moved to New York for an MFA in fiction writing at Columbia University. I stayed an extra two years to teach an undergraduate essay writing class while working on a novel. I left Columbia in 2015, when my teaching fellowship ended, and decided to work in the food industry. I’ve always loved to cook and write about food and was hoping to find a job at the intersection of those two passions. For the past year I’ve been working in the test kitchen of a small food startup called Marley Spoon. I develop, test, and edit recipes. My fiction writing is moving slowly as I write whenever there’s spare time-early mornings and weekends-but I’ve been fortunate to sign on with an agent who is guiding me to finish editing my novel. Ten years ago, when I was in Terminale... I thought I’d study in the U.S. since my brother, who is ten years older, studied here. I thought I’d maybe be doing some form of art, but since I specialized in sciences (S), I thought I might also use those skills too, though I haven’t in any precise way. I never considered living in the US or returning to France, it just wasn’t on my mind-where I’d end up. What has stayed with me from the Lycée.... I recently met a writer/editor who graduated from the Lycée (American Section) in the 90s. As we shared stories about our years at the Lycée, we discovered that we both had Mrs. Lynch as our English teacher. We spent the next half hour gushing about her class and we could remember all the works we studied, from Shakespeare’s King Lear to Philip Larkin’s poems. It was a moment of recognition and warmth, that we were both so marked by this teacher and that we’d often returned to the books we’d studied in her class. I’ve always been a voracious reader and lover of words, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Mrs. Lynch first gave me the confidence and permission to write, especially in an environment that seemed to care most deeply about the sciences. One more thing: I remember being shocked at how easy college seemed after the Lycée. I couldn’t believe that my classmates complained about taking classes they didn’t “like,” as though “liking” all your classes was a requirement for learning. I was amazed that I could choose my subjects, that I could spend hours reading, that I didn’t need to memorize pages upon pages of text, that the exams were only an hour long...
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Jessie Poquérousse ‘08 There were a few pivotal moments that established the overarching themes that have guided my life choices. My first mountaineering expedition was a cliché moment of wonder and awe, providing the seed for what has become a full-blown passion. My research fellowship in neurogenetics at Dartmouth was also decisive – I had a similar moment of awe when I first began realizing I could make my own little dent in and contribute to humanity’s joint intellectual adventure of discovery, almost as intoxicating a pursuit as chasing a difficult summit. I matriculated as a student at McGill University in Montreal right after lycée in 2008. There I majored in Neuroscience, doing a senior research thesis in neurodevelopment, and travelling to Peru and Bolivia for a few months to work alongside children with developmental disabilities. Since graduation, my choices have flipped back and forth from the extremes of outdoor pursuits to academia. I worked as the out-trip program director for an outdoor camp for individuals with neurodevelopmental differences, including autism, cerebral palsy, and fetal alcohol syndrome, then conducted research in a mindfulness psychology lab and in high altitude pulmonary physiology at Harvard while interning at the Appalachian Mountain Club in Boston for their Youth Opportunities Program. Following this, I spent a year as a rock-climbing instructor, skiing instructor, and winter program manager for individuals on the autism spectrum in Aspen, Colorado. After completing one year of medical school at Dartmouth, I moved to Georgia in the Caucasus, where I learned Georgian, taught English to the local group of mountain guides and ski patrollers, and traveled through and explored that region of the world. Upon my return I began a research fellowship in the neurogenetics of autism at Dartmouth, while teaching French at a local primary school and working for Dartmouth’s Outdoor Programs, and fell in love with autism research for symbiotic intellectual, ethical and philosophical reasons. In addition, I completed a U.S. government-funded fellowship in leadership development for advocates in the field of neuro-developmental disabilities, which included reforming key bills in favor of disability rights through advocacy work on Capitol Hill. And now? I am a mountain guide for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., an American guiding service that guides globally, including on Denali, Mexican volcanoes and Mt. Everest, and a graduate student in mathematical neuroscience applying machine learning techniques to better understand autistic brain networks at the Montreal Neurological Institute. I have fantastic memories of ENL lessons with Ms. Potts, Mr. Hicks and Ms. Lynch, happily dividing my time between unruly banter among classmates and rapt attention. I have found that many of the questions we asked and answers we sought in high school have echoed in my life time and time
again, and with each new challenge and layer of insight, I peel off a layer of understanding of many of these themes, as they resonate so true to adult life in a way that I couldn’t fully comprehend in high school. From primary school with our school play, dioramas and book reports, the pain of Wordly Wise, and our trips to Parc Asterix as well as our various cultural outings, my memories of the rich camaraderie and breadth of education of the American Section are endless. I particularly recall the proximity between teachers and students, an all too rare relationship in the French educational system. The most important elements I’m infinitely grateful for are the sterling education and solid work ethic it provided me. This goes for the American Section and Lycée as a whole, which instilled in me a baseline for academic rigor and hard work, which has of obvious value in my adult life. The philosophical and literary questions and themes we discussed were of top-notch quality and I have thought back about and reflected on them time and
time again in my not-so-adult “adult” life. I also like to somewhat romantically believe that the constant questioning and thoughtful discussions have transcended various spheres of experience, from literature - as was the case in class - to life, as is the case now. I love to think the American Section and its philosophy have influenced this curious attitude and constant exploration. I had no real vision of what I would be doing upon graduation. However, I knew that the broad themes I was most attracted to as a high school student – math and philosophy/ literature - would most likely be a part of what I would chose to pursue academically, as they are now: Autism research is at the intersection of many fascinating questions about humanity, brain evolution, and the computational power and blueprint of the human brain. However, what I certainly didn’t know was that I would develop an unforgivable passion for alpinism – rock, ice and high altitude expedition-style mountain climbing – which would come to dictate almost every life choice I would make.
Victoria Bélorgeot ‘13 After graduating from the Lycée, I started a three-year Bachelor’s degree in Human Sciences at UCL in London. I finished this degree in June 2016, and am now studying Global Mental Health at postgraduate level at King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I did not really know what I intended to do after the Lycée, but I think I am doing more or less what I imagined: studying topics that inspire me, in both social and biological sciences. Some of my undergraduate classes, like the one I took on primate behavior or disease in history, were definitely the highlights of my academic experience. After obtaining my Masters degree, I plan on travelling. Getting a temporary job abroad would be ideal, possibly in a low income country where I could apply the skills I learnt in my degree.
Laure Trebosc ‘97 After graduating from the London School of Economics in 2000, I moved to Moscow to teach English and French at Moscow State University. I then worked at the European Union Embassy in Moscow, organizing cultural and social events for the Ambassador. Although it may sound glamorous, the hours were rough and the Moscow political elite, EU civil servants, and diplomatic circles were much less gracious than you would imagine! For the past ten years I have been focusing my professional energy on social and human rights issues in Russia and the former Soviet Union. I am now Program Manager at a London-based human rights organization, EHRAC. We have historically focused on conflicts such as the Chechen war, and today the war in Ukraine, but are also litigating cases linked to freedom of expression and assembly and discrimination against minorities, whether ethnic, sexual or religious. Russian was my favorite subject at the Lycée, so I chose to continue studying it at University. However, I wouldn’t say that I had any particular career plans in mind or that my professional ambitions were necessarily linked to Russia. What I did know is that I needed to be doing something I felt passionate about to be able to get up every morning. Also, I would not settle for a job that I had ethical issues with. Back when I was teaching in Russia, I volunteered one summer at an educational camp for mentally and physically
disabled children. I quickly came to realize that the camp was the only form of education the children were ever to receive. Worse, the Russian system of caring for vulnerable children was incredibly unjust and harmful. 90% of the children had families, and the orphanages, including the one I was volunteering at, were detrimental to the children’s emotional and cognitive development. After that summer, I returned to France to complete a Masters in Developmental Studies and tested out my project management and fundraising skills with other students from Sciences Po. We went back to the camp the following summer as a team to join forces with the Russian, British and American volunteers. My volunteering work developed into a full time job when I met a Russian grassroots NGO determined to return the children to their families or place them in foster families. We sought funding from the European Commission and expertise from abroad. This was pioneering work in a very challenging environment where foreign funding was regarded suspiciously and children with learning disabilities were routinely discriminated against. Today my job is no less of a challenge, with space for civil society shrinking in former Soviet countries and legal systems not always impartial enough to provide redress. The satisfaction of having a meaningful profession that can impact people’s lives is still my main drive.
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David Guedj ‘78 After the Lycée I studied at Université d’Orsay, getting off to a slow start, as I was more interested in sports and girls than my studies. Overcoming this immaturity and my very laid-back nature, I gradually drifted to microelectronics. My stage at IBM was a turning point, as I realized I wanted to know more. I completed my PhD, and hassled my supervisor until I got an interview with an IBM-USA manager, who offered me a post-doctoral contract in the U.S. While IBM in the early ‘90s was utterly challenging on all counts, it was a great personal experience. The return back to “old Europe” was a crash landing. Still on unemployment wages after six months, I applied for a job in the European Commission, as a scientific officer. A year and a half later, after much preparation, I landed the job in Brussels. Having hit such a “low” upon returning from the States, I was determined to earn enough to make a living for my wife and kids. The experience was traumatic in some ways but in the end it made me a stronger person. I’ve always considered myself to be pretty fortunate in life as I have ability to seize opportunities. As I’m always reminding my eldest daughters, luck needs determination and resolution to be successful. The American Section and the Lycée International had a decisive effect on the person I am today. I could write and talk almost endlessly about my ten years in the American Section and at the Lycée International! My most vivid memories center on Bill Moon and the theatrical experience, as well as the diary he gave me, and his comprehensive answers to my sometimes quite provocative statements.
Clemence de Brugiere ‘01 After graduation, I spent two years in classe prépa, then studied business at ESCP-Europe, where I majored in marketing. I chose ESCPEurope because they offered a track where instead of spending three years in Paris, you could spend a year in three different countries, and that seemed so much more interesting to me. I then worked in tech marketing at Google, a job I chose based on the classes and internships that I liked best during my studies, and what I’ve learned about myself during my career in terms of what work environment I am most comfortable and effective in. After four years at Google France, I went on an 18-month round-the-world trip with my husband, to find where in the world we wanted to live (see http://clemetstan. blogspot.com) and we chose to settle down in Toronto, Canada. We have now been living and working in Toronto for four years. I still work in marketing, in the tech startup world, currently for an exciting new Canadian app called Carrot Rewards. I don’t think I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life when I left the Lycée International, but I did know that I didn’t want to spend all of my life in a single place, and that much has proven true. What I love most about the Lycée is how students get to rub shoulders with people from all over the world and from very different cultures. The Lycée gave me an appetite for the world. Since graduating I have studied in three countries and languages, have travelled around the world, and chosen to settle down in the most cosmopolitan city in the world (did you know that 50% of people living in Toronto were not born in Canada?).
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Chloé Benoist ‘05 After graduating from the Lycée, I majored in journalism and political science at Northwestern University near Chicago. When I graduated in 2009, I worked in New York in marketing, but felt that I wanted to give journalism a proper shot. While in Chicago, I started learning Arabic and became more and more interested in politics, social justice, and the Middle East, and how all of these topics intersected in one way or another. So in 2011, I moved to Lebanon, where I obtained a Master’s degree in political science, wrote a thesis on the political representation of Lebanese women, and worked as a journalist for a number of local and international publications. After four years in Beirut, I moved to Bethlehem, Palestine in January 2016 to work for a local news agency, and I have been here since. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Hicks in the American Section, I don’t think I would have thought to apply to a university in the United States -- as a fully French person, I didn’t have any real knowledge of the American college system, and would never have considered Northwestern if he hadn’t first told me about it. Deciding to learn Arabic in college was definitely one of the most decisive factors in my life, as it got me interested in the region in a way I hadn’t before, and gave me a better sense of what I really wanted to do as a journalist -- draw attention to the events happening in a part of the world that many people in Europe and the US often gloss over as being too complicated. I had dreamt of being a journalist since Middle School, but I didn’t imagine at the time that I would end up spending half of my twenties in the Middle East! While the Lycée definitely helped me build my capacity to adapt to different environments and cultures easily, the Arab world represented something completely new to me. But it was a good challenge to move even further out of my comfort zone, and I don’t think I would have had the curiosity and empathy to do this if I hadn’t spent some of my most formative years at the Lycée.
A
Where in the world they are now... Canada 6%
Europe 42%
United States 42%
Asia 5%
Middle East 1%
Africa 2%
Central & South America 1%
Oceania 1%
>40% >5% >1%
The information on these pages was almost effortlessly collected via a single Facebook post in our alumni group. As one alumna posted, amidst well over two hundred entries, “this list reads like a very impressive who’s who!” Or, in the words of Dr. Seuss: “You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” U N I T E D S TAT E S OF AMERICA
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Carolyn Rudisill Swiggart ’77 Greenwich, CT, practicing lawyer Emma Ghiglione ’16 Hartford, CT, studying Liberal Arts at Trinity College Laurene Petitjean ’08 New Haven, CT, studying for a PhD in Green Chemistry at Yale University Charlotte Beaulieu ’16 Waterville, ME, studying liberal arts at Colby College Elisabeth Christensen ’92 Boston, MA, Managing Director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Stephanie Schneider ’00 Boston, MA, Equity Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Anne Fajon ’00 Boston, MA, Corporate Social Responsibility/ Sustainability Madeleine Oudin ’03 Boston, MA, Post-doctoral cancer researcher at MIT Marie-Pascale Grimon ’06 Boston, MA, PhD candidate in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School
Max Ramseyer ’11 Boston, MA, studying for Masters of Divinity at a theological seminary Anaïs Simeral ’16 Boston, MA, studying at Northeastern Max Heudebourg ’16 Boston, MA, studying Mechanical Engineering at Northeastern Lucinda Covington ‘13 South Hadley, MA, Studying film and art history at Mount Holyoke College Constance Gouelo ’13 Wellesley, MA, studying Economics at Wellesley College Kathy Ray ’74 Albany, NY, Physician’s Assistant in a medical dermatology practice Felix Tabary ’10 Brooklyn, NY, Equity Derivatives Analyst at Bloomberg Manon Vergerio ’10 Brooklyn, NY, Community Organizer with tenants and domestic workers Jo Freudenheim ’70 Buffalo, NY, University of Buffalo Distinguished Professor and Chair do the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the School of Public Health and Health Professions
Jack Freudenheim ’75 Katonah, NY, Computer Consultant and musician/producer Robin Gillespie ’77 NY, NY doing research, consulting with labor unions, and teaching transit workers about health and safety Mickaelle Menos ’77 NY, NY, Psychologist Alexi Remnek ’87 NY, NY, working with the Oceans program and Coordinator for Climate Change and Water Sector with the US EPA Marie-France Gelot ’93 NY, NY, Senior VP and Insurance Claims Counsel at Lockton Alexandra Cavoulacos ’04 NY, NY, running The Muse, a tech startup she co-founded Ralitza Stoyanova ’04 NY, NY, working in private equity management at Goldman Sachs Mallory Sheff ’06 NY, NY, working in Health Systems, strengthening research in developing countries Nick De Veaux’07 NY, NY, Data Scientist at Simons Foundation Sanaë Lemoine ’07 NY, NY, working in the test kitchen of Marley Spoon, a food startup, and writing fiction
Alexandra Philippona ’08 NY, NY, Ecommerce and Digital Manager at Sisley Paris Justin Schlegel ’08 NY, NY, working in private equity and involved in publicly funded startup incubator for young high school entrepreneurs Leo Issac-Dognin ’09 NY, NY, finishing an MPA at Sciences Po./ Columbia Martin Hamery ’09 NY, NY, working in Internal Communications at Tiffany & Co. Claire Negiar ’10 NY, NY working in consulting Maeva Recchia ’10 NY, NY, working at the skincare company Aesop Lucas Ghiglione ’11 NY, NY, Marine Account Specialist at Hugh Wood Ben Ghiglione ’13 Saratoga Springs, NY, studying Elementary Education and Japanese at Skidmore College Keenan Schlegel ’12 Gettysburg, PA, completing studies at Gettysburg College Laurel Redding ’02 Philadelphia, PA, Practicing veterinarian and adjunct assistant professor Jessica Denorus ’11 Philadelphia, PA
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Kai Thigpen ’12 Philadelphia, PA, Master’s in Social Work Pierre Aymerich ’14 Philadeplhia, PA, studying PPE at the University of Pennsylvania Barbara Fox ’73 Providence, RI, Math Teacher Rebecca Lafon ’15 Middlebury, VT, studying Political Science at Theater at Middlebury College Grace Abuhamad ’09 Washington, DC, working in Tech/Internet Policy at the US Department of Commerce Julien Edery ’09 Washington, DC, working as an analyst for airport operations nationwide Hannah Rousselot ’10 Washington, DC, Second Grade Teacher Mathilde Piard ’02 Washington, DC, Operations and Project Manager at National Public Radio (NPR) South Claire Dakhlia ’16 Atlanta, GA, studying Liberal Arts at Emory University Samuel Behr ’12 Florida, working for an online travel agency Sophie Chanoux ’16 Florida, studying aeronautical science and to be a pilot Louis Griffith ’07 Fort Bragg, NC, US Army Captain Tierney Steelberg ’10 Greensboro, NC, Instructional Technology Librarian at Guilford College Sacha Gauthey ’16 Chapel Hill, NC, studying Business and Russian at the University of North Carolina Lucas Abelanet ’14 Charlottesville, VA, studying Computer Engineering at the University of Virginia Midwest and Central Cécile Bernard Pochet ’96 Chicago, IL, Team Leader for the American at INEOS Styrolution Kate Fink ’99 Chicago, IL, Business Development Manager at Cybersecurity for CDW Maiwenn Brethenoux ’16 Chicago, IL, studying accounting and Chinese at DePaul University Patrick Gillespie Traverse City, MI, High School science teacher Mary Edwards Wertsch ’70 Saint Louis, MO, author Marc Guinez ’08 Columbus, OH, Lead Merchant for Hollister Male Tops Ecommerce at Abercrombie & Fitch Catherine Montague Woods ’77 Elko, NV, English as a Second Language Elementary School Teacher David Warren ’77 Salt Lake City, UT. Entrepreneur, running two health tech start-ups, Cell-IQ.com and NutraSage.com Sarah Christensen ’96 West Point, UT, Homeschooling mother of six Clelia Canova ’98 Texas, Technical Product Owner for core technologies at Symantec Alison Gillespie ’79 Herbst WI, Municipal Contacts Manager Julien Hass ’03 Jackson Hole, WY, Baker/pastry cook at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Corey Haugen ’07 Laramie, WY, Product Specialist at Sciaps, Inc.
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C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E
West Coast Peggy Swanson ’77 Auburn, CA, Building management Bob Kramish ’77 Berkeley, CA Jonathan Whitney ’97 Berkeley, CA, Software architect at a latestage startup James Christensen ’94 Lincoln, CA, Pilot for the US Airforce Olivier Milhomme ’84 Los Angeles, CA, Reporter Jonathan Schleyer ’91 Manhattan Beach, CA, Strategy Director in an advertising agency Claire Adida ’96 San Diego, CA, Political Science professor at UCSD Henri Hicks ’12 San Diego, CA, Technical Recruiter for Aerotek’s clinical research division Kevin Rochard ’99 San Diego, CA, Pro Tennis Coach Jane Gehring ’75 Oakland, CA, practicing midwife Caroline Choumert Brachet ’96 Palo Alto, CA. French teacher Aline Messi ’16 Palo Alto, CA, studying at Stanford University Benjamin Christensen ’00 San Mateo, CA, working at a health care startup, Collective Health Juliette Adida ’99 San Francisco, CA, Contact Recruiter for Microsoft François Brahic ’99 San Francisco, CA, Product Designer, focused on surgical robotics Lucie Catillon ’10 San Francisco, CA, Business Development at Univision Communications Celine Chappert ’10 San Francisco, CA, Building interactive artwork and light installations that use computer programming creatively Dounia Lomri ’10 San Francisco, CA, Teaching Spanish, Art and working in a community art program Alexy Abelanet ’11 San Francisco, CA, working in an energy storage company to make the grid more sustainable Laura Catanese ’13 San Francisco, CA, studying communications at UC Berkeley Mary Anne Christensen Kochenderfer ’98 Stanford, CA, blogger, photographer and mother of four Wendy Piquemal ’95 Bellevue, WA, Editor/Translator Claire Guinez ’09 Pullman, WA, attending the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medecine Suzanne Rauschenplat Swietnicki ’75, Spokane, WA, Ob-Gyn Physician Jocelyn Hougen-Quall ’04 Seattle, WA, Director of Marketing at Aboda Thomas Gilhodes ’15 Seattle WA, studying Pre-Engineering at the University of Washington
CANADA
Olivia Boussard ’06 Montreal, Director of Content in a digital and interactive agency Jessie Poquérousse ’08 Montreal, Mountain Guide for Rainier Mountaineering and graduate student
in computational neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute Romain Robic ’10 Montreal, Environmental Geography at the Université de Montreal Steven Woodall ’10 Montreal, studying Transportation Engineering at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal Maxime Bourges ’10 Montreal, Account Manager for a software development company Joanna Wolfarth ’13 Montreal, studying Political Science Marie Woindrich ’14 Montreal, Studying Math and Finance at McGill University Sarah Bloch ’15 Montreal, studying International Management at McGill University Mirabelle Gilhodes ’16 Montreal, studying Management at McGill University Theo Leteutre ’16 Montreal, studying Mechanical Engineering at McGill University Julien Guerinet ’10 Ottawa, Head of Mobile Development at the mHealth branch of Ottawa Hospital Margaret Boittin ’97 Toronto, Law Professor Clemence de Brugiere Leveau-Vallier ’01 Toronto, Product Marketing Manager at Carrot Insights Nicolas Miran ’16 Toronto, Engineering at University of Toronto
SOUTH AMERICA
Jean-Baptiste Goethals ’82, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Partner at Bizup Consulting Hélène Papper ’95 Bogota, Colombia, UN Diplomat and Director of the UN Information Center for Colombia, Écuador and Venezuela Anaïs Dion ’10 Mexico, involved in Health and Safety Management AFRICA Hélène Bovy ’04 Malawi, Programs Director at a grassroots NGO Celia Heudebourg ’14 Morocco, field reporting semester from Macalester College Adam Cox ’10 Dakar, Senegal, Regional Director for VOTO Mobile Edward de Fouchier ’10 Dakar, Senegal, working at La Laiterie du Berger to build a local dairy industry Clémence McNulty ’99 Cape Town, South Africa, Sustainability Consultant ASIA Kai Carver ’81 Taiwan, Computer Programmer Alessando Recchia ’09 Chongqing, China, serving in the Peace Corps as an Education Volunteer, teaching English Literature at Chongqing University of Science and Technology Rebecca Christensen Gataulin ’03 Guangzou, China, Teaching English at a bilingual school Guilhem de Brugière ’03 Shanghai, China, Business Unit Manager for a Smart Home company
Marie Tatibouet ’08 Shenzhen, China, Founder of a digital marketing agency Maguelonne Mendoza de Brugière ’04 Tokyo, Japan, Lawyer at Herbert Smith Eleanor Cizeron ’11 Hong Kong, China, on secondment as a trainee solicitor at Sidley Austin Estelle Delannes ’13 Singapour, Placement year as part of international business studies in the UK Connor Steelberg ’12 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, working as a Strategy Implementation Analyst MIDDLE EAST Camille Papon ’00 Jordan, Teaching at an international school Aisha Belhadi ’02 Bahrain, Completing Doctorate in medicine Chloé Benoit ’05 Bethlehem, Palestine, Journalist OCEANIA Solène de Percin ’12 Auckland, New Zealand, engineering internship at Eurofin Isabella Mandic ’16 Sydney, Australia, studying at the University of Sydney EUROPE The Netherlands Quentin de Metz ’07 Amsterdam, working for Booking.com Aurelie Ferron ’10 Utrecht, Master in Business Development and Entrepreneurship Hanna Schenck ’13 Maastricht, Completing Masters in Global Health in international track of medecin Ana Sanchez-Moreno ’15 Maastricht, studying medicine Tinke De Witte ’10 The Hague, Masters in Biomedical Engineering at TU Delft Florence Condotta ’14 The Hague, studying International Hospitality Management Kaitlyn Tremblay ’12 Rotterdam, Masters in Marketing Management France Tanya Dauby ’89 Chatou, practicing Dentist Susanna Davoust ’03 Marseilles, Hospital Pharmacist at a correction facility Isabelle Solal ’95 Paris, pursuing academic research on women in business Elodie Potdevin ’99 Paris, VP of fashion accessories at Hermes and in charge of Apple collaboration Nicholas Biggs ’03 Paris, Producer/Writer for Cartoon Network Africa Julie Benoit ’04 Paris, Pediatrician at Necker Hospital Charlotte Raoult ’04 Paris, Special Event Management Sedera Ranaivoarinosy ’07 Paris, Marketing Manager for KPMG France’s Social Economy Department Théodora Gontier ’07 Paris, Deputy Counsel at the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber
A Where in the world they are now...
of Commerce Sebastien Valla ’07 Paris, Industrial Optimization Consulting Graham Denavit ’08 Paris, Management Consulting Benjamine de Brugière ’08 Paris, working in HR Development and HP Projects at AXA Technology Services Jennifer Mee ’09 Paris, Marketing at Dr. Martens Airwair Beatrice Mercier ’09 Paris, completing Masters in Urban Development at Sciences Po. Paris Elsa Ouss ’10 Paris, Pilot at easyJet Simon-Pierre Behr ’10 Paris, Associate at the startup studio eFounders Maya Lang ’11 Paris, third year medical student at Paris Diderot Ariane Aymerich ’12 Paris, studying medicine Virginie Lassez ’12 Paris, studying law Hortense Fouilland ’12 Paris, studying as ESSEC Business School Nolwen Faljoliet ’12 Paris, s tudying medicine at Descartes Julie Fabre ’14 Paris, studying in a Médecine Sciences at Paris Descartes and Ecole Normale Supérieur Julia Rigal ’14 Paris, studying Law and At History at Pantheon Sorbonne (Paris I) Naomi Laporte ’16 Paris, studying medicine at Pierre et Marie Curie Maxine Odin ’16 Paris, studying medicine at Descartes Camille Jacques ’15 Rueil Malmaison, in classe préparatoire ECE at Daniélou Philippe Sivac ’80 Toulouse, Project Manager at the European Space Agency Emilie Delas ’98 St. Germainen-Laye, own a professional employment company helping foreign companies employ people in France Marc Bennett ’67 Vendoeuvres, partially retired Math Teacher Marius Thebault ’14 Versailles, prépa ESC at Lycée Hoche Louise Asselin ’16 Versailles, prèpa scientifique at Ginette United Kingdom Wilhelmina Covington ‘08 Belfast, Northern Ireland, Artist Alix Toffin ’13 Birmingham, masters in physiotherapy Paul Rival ’13 Bristol, 3rd year medical school student at Southmead Hospital Alexandre de la Tour ’14 Bristol, final year of BSc Economics at the University of Bristol Jessica Matheret ’14 Cambridge, studying law at Cambridge University Claire Lexa ’11 Coventry, completing Impact Investing, Social Enterprise and Venture Philanthropy studies at Warwick University Anne-Sophie Fayet ’16 Coventry, studying International Management at the University of Warwick Naomi Sadoff ’11 Leeds,
studying for MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation Laure Trebosc ’97 London, Program Manager at the European Human Rights Advocacy Center Coralie Chappaz ’94 London, Energy Consultant Jennifer Sugden Bisset ‘97, London, Principal Consultant in the International Projects team at BSI Group Ludivine Broch-Hinks ’01 London, Lecturer in History at the University of Westminster Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura ’02 London, Staff Reporter at the New York Times Jennifer Lainé Thijssen ’04 London, Senior Manager at the global accountancy and advisory firm BDO LLP Clara Giraud ’04 London, Theater Management Juliette Chareyron ’04 London, NBC Universal International Television Distribution Pierre Kerdoncuff ’06 London, providing financing and advisory services to ship owners and port terminals at DNB Omran Belhadi ’08 London, Lawyer working on abuses in counter terrorism Maïlys Flajoliet de Keratem ’09 London, working in Policy in the charity sector William Valla ’09 London, Site Manager at a construction project, civil and structural engineering consultancy Antigone Coté ’10 London, Restructuring and Refinancing at PwC David Schenck ’10 London, Commodity Analyst at Société Générale Marie-Alice Lexa ’10 London, working and consulting and founded a digital marketing/ business coaching company Estelle Chappert ’11 London, Executive Remuneration Consultant at Aon Roxanne Bourges ’11 London, studying for an MA in Acting at Mountview Academy of Theater Arts Camille Gros ’11 London, teaching at a bilingual school Natacha Folliguet ’11 London, Lawyer training with the UK Government Legal Department Hippolyte Lhussier ’11 London, postgraduate degree in Accounting and Finance at the London School of Economics Victor Trojani ’12 London, studying at ESCP Europe Victoria Bélorgeot ’13 London, studying Global Mental Health at King’s College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Clara Valderrama ’13 London, studying veterinary medicine at the Royal Veterinary College Caroline Memmi ’14 London, studying Neuroscience at King’s College Ariane Bouché ’15 London, studying Liberal Arts at King’s College
Maxime Jarquin ’15 London, studying History, Politics and Economics at UCL Eloise Crist ’16 London, studying Liberal Arts at King’s College Claire Pujol ’16 London, studying Economics and Management at King’s College Solène Girardeau ’16 London, Biomedical Engineering at King’s College Lili Pandolfi ’16 London, Bsc. Environement and Development at the London School of Economics Louis Jamart ’14 Oxford, studying Human Sciences at University of Oxford Max Tscheltzoff ’15 Reading, studying Fine Arts and Film at the University of Reading Nikhil Banerjee ’14 Surrey, studying Computer Science at the University of Surrey Switzerland Laure Vancauwenberghe ’14 Lausanne, studying Engineering in Life Sciences and Technology Alexie Cox ’14 Lausanne, studying International Hospitality Management Belgium David Guedj ’78 Brussels, Senior Project Manager at the European Commission Alexandre Bertuzzi ’02 Brussels, Merger Control at the European Commission Olivia de Fouchier ’12 Brussels, working at the European Strategic Security and Intelligence Center James Galand Jones ’11 Bruges, studying for a Masters in European Affairs at the College of Europe. Marine Bourjot ’12 Belgium, graduate program of Anheuser Busch Inbev Spain Alice Odolant ’14 Madrid, studying Law and Economics on an Erasmus year from Cambridge University Sweden Manon Knoertzer ’11 Stockholm, completing Masters in Computational Linguistics Ireland Ben Gaches ’09 Galway, completing an LLM in International Humanitarian Law Alex Lockhart ’16 Dublin, studying English and Film at University College Iceland Stephanie Smith ’86 Reykjavik, Director of Emergency Response Planning for Icelandair Channel Islands Anne-Charlotte Bizarro ’04 Guernsey, working in private equity funds administration
TH E PL ACE S YO U’ L L G O 3 5
Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go. You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street. And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air. Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you. And then things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too. OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! by Dr. Seuss from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”