First Selectman Mike Tetreau is pleased to announce that the educational, linguistic and cultural exchange program at Fairfield Warde High School (FWHS) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year!
Additionally, starting today, April 11, through April 20, a group of FWHS French students and two French teachers, Ms. Rabia Mairech from FWHS and Mr. Steve Farkas from Fairfield Ludlowe High School, will be traveling to Nimes, Marseille, Montpellier and Paris. They will be staying with French host families (the parents of the French exchange students), go to school with their peers and experience the richness and beauty of the French culture.
Likewise, from April 30 to May 11, 20 French students who attend Lycée Albert Camus in Nimes, France and their French teachers, Madame Fabienne Goizin and Madame Céline Casili, will be visiting Fairfield and staying with Fairfield host families (the parents of the American exchange students) while attending FWHS.
On Thursday, May 2 at 9 am, the French and American exchange students will meet with Fairfield’s First Selectman at Independence Hall followed by a tour of the Fairfield Police Department, Fairfield Fire Station, Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield University Bookstore and Roger Ludlowe Middle School. The students will enjoy a nice pique-nique at the Gazebo at Sherman Green in downtown Fairfield.
The Fairfield Warde /Lycée Albert Camus, Nimes exchange program was started by Fairfield French teachers Patricia Shiner, Liz Nager, Mary Hayes and Bob Cloutier who are now retired. Rabia Mairech, a French teacher at FWHS, took over the program and has been organizing this popular exchange for the last 12 years.
Ms. Mairech stated, “This program is a celebration of the best of what an exchange looks like—culture, linguistics, and academics. VIVE la France! Vive l’Amérique and may this beautiful friendship between France and the USA continue!”
First Selectman Tetreau said, “I would like to congratulate FWHS’s exchange program for celebrating 40 wonderful years of bringing together different cultures to learn about one another and form special, life-long friendships. I’m proud to show our beautiful, historic town to the exchange students and wish them an enjoyable time during their visit here!”
FWHS Logo Source: http://fairfieldschools.org/schools/fwhs/