French students visiting Cecilia

Cecilia — The flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris brought 30 French youngsters and four of their instructors to St. Martin Parish and more specifically, here to Cecilia, as foreign exchange students. Judging from the almost immediate friendship and seamless interchange among the host and hosted students, however, there was nothing “foreign” about the 20 girls and 10 boys from France and their American counterparts.

Parents of the students from Cecilia High — who would host, house and feed the guests for a week — had already arranged a surprise reception at the school, complete with a sit-down meal of Cajun delicacies and a Cajun band.

The meal was hardly over before all the children turned the school’s foyer into an improvised dance floor. In no time at all the visitors were acting as typical American teenagers everywhere. Needless to say, there were no wallflowers at this dance.

The Acadiana-based Cajun Convoy Band played both French and Cajun tunes. The visiting students responded with unbounded delight and enthusiasm.

After a good night’s rest in the homes of their hosts and a full weekend of orientation — sightseeing, fishing and even frog hunting — it was back to school on Monday. The visiting students attended Cecilia High School for a day of classes with their local counterparts. The following day’s schedule called for them to visit St. Martinville and tour the local historic sites.

This would be followed by two more days at school with before and after school activities designed to acquaint the French students with the American way of life. A farewell party at a private home was planned for Thursday night with an early morning departure from New Orleans to Paris to follow.

According to Hasan Alis, head of the Cecilia High French Department and one of the organizers of the trip, this was only the first of many planned exchanges of young scholars between the two nations.

Cecilia principal Anthony Polotzola agreed with Alis that this initial student exchange and its interchange of ideas were exceptionally important.

They said the French language is second only to English as the language of business, and with the prominence of petroleum in both the global economy and Acadiana’s economy, it is particularly important that our students are very familiar and well versed in its use.