Areas of Commonality

Energized awe is not the response you might expect from Middle School students practicing long division on a whiteboard. But that’s what you find. It’s the subtle variation in approach, displayed by students of Sainte-Marie Bastide, Collegiate’s new partner school in Bordeaux, France, that is captivating the class. Students from both Collegiate and Sainte-Marie Bastide are realizing that they can arrange the dividend, quotient and divisor in ways that differ from how they were taught and still end up with the same answer. It’s a small lesson, packed within the larger discoveries of this new partnership, of how we can arrive at the same place differently.

What an exchange program such as the one between Collegiate and Sainte-Marie Bastide offers is complete language and cultural immersion, allowing students to connect what they’ve learned in the classroom to the broader world. It’s much more than a trip to another country; it’s an experience. “In an exchange program, you don’t just travel and come back and have nothing change,” says Middle School French teacher Monica Melton, who along with her colleague Tamara Ingram visited France in the summer of 2022 to research new partner school opportunities. “Students are not just visiting places and moving on. Instead, they’re connecting with people, creating new relationships and really trying to understand their experience.” 

In March, Collegiate students spent nine days at Sainte-Marie Bastide with their host families and teachers. During the exchange, students enjoyed an education where learning became more about engagement — both with the people and the communities. They had dinner with their host families every night and experienced daily life in their respective homes. They learn about a specific experience, and ultimately come to understand that the French language represents many different stories from Francophone lives. 

“In studying world languages, the magic really happens when you’re able to apply what you’ve been learning inside the classroom to life outside the classroom,” Ingram explains. “And that’s what we’re able to do with this program. The magic happens when you get to connect with someone of the language you’ve been studying.” 

When the students from Sainte-Marie Bastide came to Collegiate, in May, those relationships continued to expand. Attending classes, exploring Richmond and visiting Williamsburg and Washington, D.C., Sainte-Marie Bastide students received the same kind of immersive experience that they gave Collegiate students. It’s a practice of sharing that allows mutual respect and understanding to blossom. 

“I think having an exchange program aligns nicely with Collegiate’s Portrait of a Graduate and the skills we hope students develop,” Melton says. “When you learn to better identify with your own experiences, and then you are able to build a relationship with someone who has had different life experiences, students are really able to grow that curiosity, develop empathy and obtain a deeper sense of respect.” 

Overlaying all the lessons of this new exchange program, though, is a deeper sense of connection, one borne not out of differences but areas of commonality. “When you have an exchange, you really learn a new way of life,” says Madame Joaquina Guilhem, one of the two accompanying French teachers from Sainte-Marie Bastide. “Even if you live 10,000 kilometers away, some aspects of life are the same. You learn about the differences, but you also learn how life is the same everywhere.”