This October, 20 students from France are experiencing an inside look of American life and culture at Liberty North High School.
“The exchange program is an opportunity for students to host a student from France and then be able to visit that same student in France in the spring. Each of those opportunities is two weeks long,” French teacher Brandi Pruente said.
This isn’t the first time Madame Pruente has been in charge of a foreign exchange program.
“I was in charge of this program at my former school and we’ve had anywhere from 18 to 30 (students). So I think as far as how long it took to organize, it wasn’t as in-depth this year because I’ve done it in the past,” Pruente said.
The coordination of the exchange program wasn’t all smooth sailing, though.
“It took a little bit longer to find host families and I think that’s just because it’s new to everyone here,” Pruente said.
Some of the French students are eager to start their American experience.
“I want to discover new things like culture and
I just want to experience the life of an American because it’s so different. It’s so different from France,” foreign exchange student Lise-Marie Cesbron said.
The French students faced a long travel day in order to get to America. First a 4 hour bus ride from Angers to Paris, then a 9 and a half hour flight from Paris to the Atlanta airport, and finally a 2 hour flight from Atlanta to Kansas City.
“The Travel experience was great, a bit long. We were exhausted when we arrived,” Cesbron said.
American life and French life differ in many ways.
“For them it’s such a typical American experience and they don’t have a lot of activities tied to their school, so being able to witness homecoming or go to a football game and those aspects of American high school are really exciting for them,” Pruente said.
There are a variety of activities planned for the French students during their stay in Kansas City. They will visit places like the National World War I Museum and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. There were difficulties in setting up these events though.
“Trying to plan busses for their field trips is a little bit of a challenge merely because we’re at a point where we have a bus driver shortage, but just organizing that piece and making sure that they have a few events is always a challenge, but also fun in the end, like get it all in the schedule and you’re good to go,” Pruente said.
