Sweet Briar College JYF in Paris Alumni Magazine - December 2018

My tenure as Director of the
Sweet Briar College Junior
Year in France for 14 years
(July, 2000- July, 2014) was the most
memorable and fulfilling challenge
of my 32-year career at Sweet Briar
College.
Not only was it an honor and a
privilege to have succeeded the
inimitable Dr. Emile Langlois (1984-
2000) but also to have been given the
opportunity to work closely with so
many knowledgeable and dedicated
colleagues in the French departments
and study abroad offices from over 35
universities and colleges nationwide.
I will always cherish the relationships
and deep friendships with my
exemplary JYF staff (Sue Fauber
and Pat Wydner) in Virginia, the
outstanding and hardworking resident
directors and assistant directors, JYF
professors and JYF staff in Paris and
the hundreds of students who spent
the year or semester abroad with
SBCJYF in Tours and in Paris or Nice.
A special mention must go to the
legendary Mme Carol Denis, assistant
director to several resident directors
in Paris who nurtured, advised and
helped so many students from (1978-
1979; 1981-2002) and was named by
students as “mother of the program.”
Sadly, she passed away after a
courageous battle with cancer on
Aug. 8, 2006.
JYF is fortunate to continue the
JYF program under the excellent
leadership of Director Marie Grée
in Paris along with Lucy Hervier,
and Laura Nunes da Costa. Their
daily interaction with students is the
strength of the program at Reid Hall.
As the oldest intercollegiate
coeducational study abroad program
in Paris, we are now celebrating 70
years of providing college students
with “the most formative time of their
life” (as stated in a lot alumni letters).
We hope that many of you will be
able to return to Paris and join us for
the 70th Anniversary Celebration at
Reid Hall on April 5, 2019 to share
memories of your experiences in Paris.
Looking forward to seeing you
soon!
Amitiés,
Margaret Scouten, Ph.D
JYF Director Emerita
I
was sitting in a small office in an annex of the Institut de Touraine on
Tuesday afternoon chatting with students about course offerings in
Paris. This was a frustrating task because, even into the second week of
September, the French universities had not released specific information
about classes that would be starting in early to mid-October. Ninety-seven
students had arrived in Tours the previous week for our preliminary session
before beginning their academic year in Paris.
So it was during an afternoon break that a student came by to tell me that
there had been a terrible accident in New York: a plane had crashed into
one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I walked upstairs to the media
center in time to see a second plane hit the tower and it started to become
clear that this was more than an accident. I watched with horror along with a
couple of dozen students, teachers and colleagues as new reports came in
about other planes. I called my wife in Paris where she had stayed with our
two kids while I was in Tours and I found comfort in her voice and those of my
children.
The next day we had a group meeting in the theater of the Institut and
invited students from other smaller programs to attend. The students were
understandably anxious; some of them had parents or other relatives who
worked in the WTC or at the Pentagon and had not yet been able to contact
them. The director of the Institut had already put additional security measures
in place and the French government had launched the Vigipirate protocols.
We felt safe in our provincial town but with a heightened awareness of our
surroundings.
To say that this put a special edge on the year would be an
understatement. Students in some programs decided to return to the
USA; all 97 of our students stayed. Once back in Paris, there were intense
conversations with the homestay families, with faculty and staff at the
Alliance Française and among the students concerning news coverage and
international response. A junior year abroad is always life altering, but 2001-
2002 was infused with dramatic events that forced reflection and made
International understanding seem more important than ever before.
As interim program director a few years ago when Sweet Briar College
was facing threat of closure, I had the opportunity to speak with many former
program participants from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. They had wonderful
stories to share about their own year abroad and how it affected their lives
and their life choices in subsequent years. I know from my own experience on
a junior year abroad in France what a profound effect such an experience has
on our understanding of the world.
Study abroad has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Close
to 60 percent of study abroad these days is short-term programs—eight
weeks or fewer—often with faculty from the home institutions and often all in
English. I know that short-term programs can be interesting and worthwhile,
but the total immersion in another culture and in another language for nine or
ten months is enriching in ways that one continues to discover and reconsider
over a lifetime.
I was a member of the Sweet Briar Junior Year in France Advisory
Committee for 10 years before becoming the academic director in Paris and
I remained a member for another 12 years after returning to Washington
and Lee. I have regularly sent our Washington and Lee students on the JYF
program and they all come back telling me that, after meeting students from
other American programs in Paris, they think the Sweet Briar JYF is the best—
the home stays, the academic support, the excursions. Sweet Briar JYF is one
of a few high-quality programs that continue to provide an opportunity for
total immersion in France at a time when intercultural understanding seems
more important than ever.
John Lambeth
Academic Director in Paris, 2001-2003
Interim Program Director 2015-2016
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