Sweet Briar College JYF in Paris Alumni Magazine - December 2018

FROM THE DIRECTOR
The Millennials and Generation Z are the generations I have known over the last 14 years
working with Sweet Briar College JYF in Paris. I’m often asked if the students have changed
and if the program has changed as a result.
Students are still attracted to JYF because our program allows them to discover French
culture and studies through a real immersion in French. That core value has not changed in
70 years, and it remains the strongest element in our identity. We are facing headwinds in
the trend toward very short stays and programs entirely in English, but we are determined
to maintain our standards and are working on new means of communicating our strengths
and the benefits of full immersion and rigorous French university study for the generations to
come.
The great difference is that today’s students are more connected than ever; they live on
and through social media. Because they come with their laptops and telephones, long gone
are the days of collect calls home once a week. Of course there are good and bad sides to
this universal connectivity, but on the whole students suffer less from homesickness and have
a much easier time getting around and becoming involved. We may miss the little books of
street maps organized by arrondissement and the Pariscope, but Generation Z has a fabulous
wealth of information at its fingertips.
Most of our students do not major in French literature or Art History but they still take
courses in French at the Sorbonne, in French Literature, Art History, and Philosophy. But
American students, for the most part, now have other priorities : International relations, Business
and Economy are among the most in demand, but also sciences, psychology , sociology.
All these subjects are taught at the University Paris Diderot and are widely represented
among the students’ majors. Then you find another group of students who in spite of their
majors decide to explore the theater and cinema departments of the University of Paris III, as
well as the communication and European studies departments.
Our in-house courses are still very attractive and the history of Paris through its architecture,
which allows them to visit new sites every week, the art history class that takes place at
the Louvre every Wednesday night, or the theater class which takes them to see plays in many
great theaters such as the Comedie Française, are always highly praised.
If this vigorous academic approach is intimidating, Generation Z is not letting it show! In
the end, the vast majority pass their classes with excellent results, and if the first exams in
class (also known as DST, or devoir sur table) are excrutiating, in the end they will be proud to
have done it the way the French do. Another way to learn that French method is through our
internship program which continues to attract students and represents a doorway to working
in a francophone environment.
When students are not attending classes, they are doing what they have done for the last
seven decades: strolling along the streets of Paris, travelling throughout Europe during weekends
and vacation. The difference today is that they fly everywhere instead of taking night
trains and often book their various trips before arriving in France, another advantage of universal
connectivity. And of course we can follow them, as their family and friends can, through
the pictures that they put on their Instagram.
As the great majority of you remember so well, living with a French family is also part of our
immersion, and many students remain in contact with their host family and visit them when
they come back to France. Families today have adapted to a new generation too and have
learned how to prepare vegan diners. This year alone seven students from just 2016-2017 are
working in Paris or other towns where they teach English in high schools through the TAPIF
program, others are doing a Master at the Sorbonne. And now, they do not have to sign a
pledge to speak French…it comes to them naturally.
As we celebrate JYF’s 70th anniversary in Spring 2019, we are honored that Emile Langlois
and Margaret Scouten, beloved former directors remembered fondly by so many of you, will
attend the grand event we are planning on April 5, 2019, at Reid Hall in Paris. We hope you
will join us !
Marie Grée
Director
Sweet Briar College JYF in Paris
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