This past October, students from the Institution Saint-Joseph Du Moncel, a school in France, stayed with some of the students at Starr’s Mill. They attended Starr’s Mill as students, and lived like average American students for a week and a half.

Now with Spring Break coming up, ten students in the French department, Jill Snelgrove, and Robbin Huggins, will travel to France and interact with the French students at Du Moncel.

This is the first time Starr’s Mill will be doing a French Foreign Exchange Program. It will add to the Foreign Exchange Program that is provided at Starr’s Mill, which includes the German Foreign Exchange Program.

“The exchange is so much more meaningful and valuable to the students,” Snelgrove said. “The cultural relevance that they experience is so meaningful.”

Participants from Starr’s Mill include: freshmen Morgan Burgess and Abby Carter, sophomores Sarah Hamlett and Pierre-Raphael Porzio, juniors Amy Garcia, Sarah Goins, Sierra Ramsey, and Tiana Whaley, and seniors Chad Evans and Sarah Johnston.

The French teacher has participated in an exchange program before, and because of its success she wanted her students at Starr’s Mill to participate in their own.

“I have provided them with a packing list, and they have talked with their exchange student about what they want to do in France,” Snelgrove said.

Snelgrove started to organize the exchange at the end of last school year. Now, after many months Starr’s Mill will become exchange students at the Institution Saint-Joseph Du Moncel. This school is in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, France, which is close to Chantilly, France.

“Each student filled out a questionnaire, each of the French students filled out a questionnaire, and each of the American students filled out a questionnaire,” Snelgrove said. “I tried to match them based on similar interests.”

Since the students from Du Moncel stayed with some of the students from Starr’s Mill, and they were able to achieve bonds with those students, Snelgrove decided to keep those same pairings.