International Flags Anchor Flourishing Global Program
When Collegiate School parent Cornelia Moore Hall invited the first exchange student to the School in 1963, she probably had no idea that years later, her commitment to helping students appreciate their counterparts around the world would become a signature feature of a Collegiate education.
So said her son, James K. Hall '71, on Sunday evening when he, his sister Laura M. Hall '68 (Collegiate's now-retired Lower School nurse), nephew Boz Boschen '98, and other relatives gathered during a dinner for the seventh annual International Emerging Leaders Conference at Collegiate. The dinner also served as an unveiling for flags from 40 nations around the world, representing all of the countries from which Collegiate's exchange students have hailed.
Mrs. Hall launched Collegiate's international exchange student program through American Field Service (AFS). A mover and a shaker, and well ahead of her time, she was interested in adding a global element to the student body because, as her daughter, Laura Hall, remembers, “She felt like we weren’t being exposed to different cultures and the School could benefit from having foreign students come and spend an academic year on campus.”
Inger Vestby from Norway was Collegiate’s first AFS student in 1963, and since that time the School has welcomed international students nearly every year.
Before she died in September 1985, Mrs. Hall requested that memorial donations go to Collegiate and the AFS program. It was then that her children, Sally Hall '67, Laura Hall, James Hall and Justin M. Hall '76 established the Cornelia Hall International Exchange Student Endowment in her honor and memory to preserve the program at Collegiate.
On Sunday evening, as James Hall peered from the McFall Hall stage at the Collegiate junior ambassadors and senior delegates, 41 international students from nine countries, and the Collegiate families hosting the student guests for a week, he indicated how proud his mother would have been at the growth of the School's global program. Mr. Hall also noted that her vision and legacy offer proof of an important truth: "One person can make a difference."
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Mrs. Hall launched Collegiate's international exchange student program through American Field Service (AFS). A mover and a shaker, and well ahead of her time, she was interested in adding a global element to the student body because, as her daughter, Laura Hall, remembers, “She felt like we weren’t being exposed to different cultures and the School could benefit from having foreign students come and spend an academic year on campus.”
Inger Vestby from Norway was Collegiate’s first AFS student in 1963, and since that time the School has welcomed international students nearly every year.
Before she died in September 1985, Mrs. Hall requested that memorial donations go to Collegiate and the AFS program. It was then that her children, Sally Hall '67, Laura Hall, James Hall and Justin M. Hall '76 established the Cornelia Hall International Exchange Student Endowment in her honor and memory to preserve the program at Collegiate.
On Sunday evening, as James Hall peered from the McFall Hall stage at the Collegiate junior ambassadors and senior delegates, 41 international students from nine countries, and the Collegiate families hosting the student guests for a week, he indicated how proud his mother would have been at the growth of the School's global program. Mr. Hall also noted that her vision and legacy offer proof of an important truth: "One person can make a difference."
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