Students will travel to France to celebrate partnering
Forty-five students and staff from Ecole Secondaire Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School will travel to eastern France later this week to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of partnering with Ecole Jeanne D’Arc.
Red Deer Public Schools reports that Lindsay Thurber is one of Canada’s few schools to enjoy such a long-term relationship with a twin school, particularly one in France.
The trip runs from Thursday until April 7. During that time, students will get to hang out at Jeanne D’Arc School, located in Mulhouse in the Alsace region of France near the Swiss city of Basel and the German border. The Alsace is an important wine region in France.
They’ll also visit the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars. The students will visit the graves of former Red Deer high school students killed during the great wars.
This year, students will visit the 10th gravesite of a Red Deer soldier.
The visit is memorialized on a wall of remembrance inside Lindsay Thurber.
From the battlefields, the students will visit Paris, followed by a week-long visit with their French host families in Mulhouse.
The exchange program was founded in 1992-1993 by Rob Porkka and Clem Hebert, who were teachers at Lindsay Thurber.
Every two years, 90 students from Canada and France have participated in the program. After 20 years, nearly 900 students have participated in the exchange.
The continued success of the program can be attributed to French immersion teacher and program leader Carl Malenfant, along with fellow staff members.
Students from France were in Canada last May, spending time with their host families and exploring school life while sightseeing.
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