Alumni Profiles - Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley

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ECOLE BILINGUE DE BERKELEY ALUMNI PROFILE: SARAH KANAFANI, CLASS OF 1992 I have always valued the education I got at EB for a variety of reasons—its well-roundedness, the small classes, the excellent and dedicated faculty, the multiculturalism, and the friendships I made there (which are still among my best). But that appreciation jumped to a new level recently, as I can honestly say that I would not have my current job if it were not for those nine years on Heinz Street. Nearly four months ago, I moved to Conakry, the capital of the tiny francophone West African country of Guinea, to work with the American Refugee Committee. Despite being part of a region that has become synonymous in the press with brutal civil wars, few have heard of it. I had to specify countless times, “Not Equatorial, not Bissau, not even close to Papua New—just Guinea.” Being bilingual is useful in almost any context. Throughout my academic and professional career since EB, my ability to speak a second language fluently has been an asset—whether because it is an explicit requirement or because it is often regarded as a mark of being well-educated and capable. I completed a French minor (along with an English major) at UC Berkeley before moving to New York where I worked for the Whitney Museum of American Art. A second language was not mandatory for that job, but it was a distinct advantage in the application process. And later, when I applied to graduate school at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, foreign language proficiency was a minimum requirement. But in my current job with ARC, it was French specifically that was the deal-breaker. Having just graduated from Georgetown with my masters in International Relations and a focus on Conflict Management, I was not the only one of my classmates looking for field jobs overseas. Many are just as qualified as I am to fulfill the duties of this position and manage the demands of living in one of the poorest countries in the world and one that is not only surrounded by war-torn countries, but characterized by a slew of its own structural instabilities. But my classmates don’t speak French. Even though the refugees I work with and for here are mostly English-speaking (from Liberia and Sierra Leone), regular office business, liaising with other organizations, and daily life are all conducted in French. Indeed, if it weren’t for French, half the African continent would be closed to me, at least in terms of living and working. For someone who wants to spend their career preventing and resolving conflicts, providing humanitarian assistance in war-torn countries, and linking relief to longer-term development, to be monolingual would be a major disadvantage. In a way, it is the education I received at EB that has allowed me make my dreams come true. Additionally, the early start and the combination of linguistic and cultural education I got at EB have proven to be big advantages in a francophone country. Compared to people here who only began studying French in high school or college, I find it easier to understand technical language, slang, jokes, and different accents. While these may seem like minor issues, they can mean the difference between actively contributing and just keeping up in a meeting, and between having a social life and just sticking to the anglophone expatriate community. While French is what got me here in the first place, it is partly EB that has made my experiences here as rich and dynamic as they are. And that is true not only for Guinea (not Equatorial, not Bissau…), but for places I’ve been to, people I’ve met, and things I’ve done throughout my life. WN9–3 NOV 2005 7
ALUMNI PROFILE: MONICA KAITZ, CLASS OF 1994 The most important gift I took with me from EB was a certain international flavour. My closest friends at EB (and later FAIS in San Francisco) came from such places as Taiwan, Iran, the Philippines, Finland, France (of course), and the exotic Orinda; a pretty incredible list. Along with the coursework and foreign teachers, this opened my mind to a wider perspective. All of the sudden, history included Europe (with all its Louis) as opposed to simply the U.S. Another hallmark of EB that I didn’t fully appreciate until later was the discipline inherent in the French school system. The French teachers I had didn’t demand respect, they expected it… as if it were a given. They simply couldn’t imagine you would behave any other way. This is not the impression I get from accounts of my college friends’ grade school experiences. While I can’t say that at the time I appreciated not getting away with much, in hindsight it certainly seems more conducive to characterbuilding than the alternative. Thus, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful teachers, French and American, at EB to whom I owe what has become a full, fulfilling and auspicious beginning to my life. So what have I done with all this international flavour and iron-clad character? I started the French Club at my alma mater Amherst College, spent the requisite year abroad in Paris at the Sorbonne, studied opera in Milan at La Scala, and just graduated from the post-baccalaureate premedical program at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. To save airfare, I managed to ride home from Baltimore to San Francisco on a bicycle just this past summer (I recommend) and plan to join another FAISer to do the AIDS ride from San Francisco to L.A this June. Having so many international friends and relatives means I get to visit them all, so I was recently in Perth, Australia, visiting. So, currently, I’m back in the Bay Area studying for my MCAT in April. After five years on the East Coast, it’s nice to be home for a while. My sister, Diana, is on the alumni committee at E.B., so hopefully we both will see any and all alums at our house for the next communal gathering (I make a mean moussaka).
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Alumni Profiles - Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley

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