Chatham High School’s annual French Exchange returned for the first time since 2019, and 15 French students arrived in Chatham on April 23rd and stayed through April 30th. Chatham High School began the Exchange in spring of 2015 but had to pause the program in 2020, due to Covid-19.
Fifteen Chatham students hosted the exchange students from St. Joseph's, which is a private high school in the South of France near Monaco. The school is a top-ranked high school in their region. The French students came to Chatham after a week-long trip to New York City, where they stayed in a youth hostel and spent time sightseeing.
The French students attended CHS on Monday, April 24th. They shadowed their hosts for the day and then returned to CHS on Wednesday, April 26th to attend French classes for the day. The CHS students and the St. Joseph’s students took trips to Princeton University, Morristown (including a visit to George Washington's Headquarters), and Asbury Park to see the Jersey Shore.
Three teachers accompanied the exchange students: M. Stanek, who also visited Chatham in 2019, history teacher M. Desbordes, and English teacher Mme. Baux.
CHS French teacher Leslie Caulfield, who coordinated the exchange with World Language teachers Torri Van Wie and Magda Albanese, said that CHS was thrilled to resume the program and felt that all of the students from both CHS and St. Joseph’s had a meaningful experience.
The 15 CHS host students will travel to France in mid June to spend 10 days with their host families and see the sights each day with their hosts and their CHS teachers.