Exchange Students from France Visit EASTERN

On April 8, 2011, 22 high school students from Lycée Léonard de Vinci in Saint Germain en Laye, a suburb of Paris, accompanied by two of their teachers, Gwenaelle Rey and Guillaume Pinaud, visited the Eastern Center for Arts and Technology (EASTERN) for an overview of the school, a tour and a typical American lunch including pulled pork, corn on the cob, and corn bread prepared by EASTERN’s Culinary Arts students. This visitation was possible through a partnership with Jenkintown High School, which hosts the students and places them with local families for two weeks in April. The Jenkintown students will go to France next year and will be hosted by the visitors' families.

All of the student visitors from France were career and technical students, so the visit to EASTERN offered them the opportunity to see the differences and similarities of a career and technical high school in the United States. Throughout the tour, they met and interacted with students from all EASTERN programs.

“We enjoyed hosting the students for the day, and I know that our students were excited about meeting with career and technical students from another country,” said Kevin Reilly, EASTERN’s Assistant Director.

The Jenkintown Language Exchange Programs are intended to give Jenkintown students an opportunity to establish friendships with French- or Spanish-speaking students of similar age, host those students in their homes, and experience school and family life with those students during a visit to their home countries. Through Jenkintown High School, the students also spent time visiting the National Constitution Center, Franklin Institute Science Museum, a walking tour of Independence Hall, historic Philadelphia, South Street, Society Hill, and had the unique opportunity to tour the White House in Washington DC. Students also visited New York City and an Amish community in Lancaster.

Photo 1: French student visitors in buffet line in Culinary Arts