News from the American Section

The 5^th Grade trip to Branféré this past weekend was a huge success. A lot of learning took place over the three days, both of life in a collective environment and the whole park experience. Students did an in-depth study of pond life and participated in scavenger hunts and a course d'orientation, learning about the many animals who live in the Branféré animal preserve. 

Digital child safety expert, Elizabeth Milovidov, spent the day in the American Section this past Tuesday. She had a chat with our Troisièmes and Cinquièmes on both campuses, and met most of the American Section faculty and staff over lunch. A lawyer and a mother of two teenage boys, she had a very personable approach to online safety that was easily accessible to the American Section public.

Our Silver Soirée was a truly magical evening that brought together well over 250 members of our community, including current and former  parents, students, faculty, and staff. Participants enjoyed an enchanting evening in a thoroughly transformed Atrium. Highlights of the event were the traditional live auction, as well as the spirited dance session that closed the evening.

The French had it right by referring to the lower grades as the ‘Jardin d’enfants.’ It truly was a garden for children in Lower School last week during Project Week. From PreK to 5^th, our students’ knowledge of all things related to gardens grew and flourished. Each teacher was responsible for a level and created an amazing experiences for the children The exposition on the Lycée campus of our garden projects will be at the end of May. 

The Première class enjoyed its first overnight trip since the start of COVID with a sunshine-filled visit to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Our trip included a visit to the Memorial of Caen, the somber German cemetery at La Cambe, Arromanches, and the American cemetery and museum at Colleville-sur-Mer.

This past Monday team-building was in and acrophobia was out when our Cinquième classes spent a day at Indian Forest in Morainvilliers. The trip was to make up for this year's canceled trip to Amsterdam--as well as to offer our students the opportunity to solidify friendships and have some much-needed--and well-deserved--fun.

Saturday's Lycée en Fête was a huge success! More than three thousand people came out to support this remarkable event, which reunites all 14 sections. It was a great way to end the Lycée's 70th birthday week. 

The Lycée International celebrated is 70th birthday this week, accompanied by the customary excitement and exhilaration reserved for such landmark events. We enjoyed special exhibits, dress-up days, cultural workshops, concerts and symposia to mark the occasion. The Lycée's landmark birthday gives us in the American Section a reason to celebrate, too. As one of the fouding sections, we celebrated our 70th birthday as well! 

Every spring, we hold a special version of the 100 Days for American Section Terminales, designating the time left until graduation. To celebrate this milestone, we interrupted classes and assembled the entire class on Wednesday afternoon for a spectacular party, which included yummy treats, pep talks and an expression of gratitude.

The inauguration of our new Lycée buildings was an important part of the school's 70th birthday week. Having been put on hold for two years, the ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on March 29 before an impressive array of local politicians. Students from the school's fourteen sections participated by creating a haie d'honneur. 

The Seventies came back with a vengeance last Saturday night--and the world is a better place for it. American Section Sixièmes, Cinquièmes and Quatrièmes, several in blindingly flashy polyester jumpsuits, came together to show each other--and the rapturous parent organizers and chaperones--that they knew how to dance. The event was a fascinating look at post-pandemic adolescent joy and bonding. 

After two years of COVID restrictions on audiences, Upper School Theatre returned in triumph to the Agora for a high-spirited production of the play Clue: On Stage, based on the famous American board game. The rapid-fire repartee and escalating absurdity kept the audience of all ages laughing even as six murders take place in the rooms.

Last week, award-winning poet, children's author, TV writer, and publisher Kwame Alexander came to pay a visit to our middle grades, 5th through 8th. Kwame explained to a rapt audience how hard it was to get The Crossover  published back in 2012, as well as stories about his childhood and how he works. 

American Section students of all ages celebrated the holiday of love and friendship this week. Our Lower School students enjoyed a homemade Valentine card exchange, themed artwork; and other holiday activities, while the Student Council gave Middle and Upper School students beautiful treat bags. 

The L'Europe et la Paix symposium, held at the Lycée International this week, reunited captivating experts who knew how to address an international crowd. The evening encapsulated everything the Lycée is about. Smart kids, an international community, and a discourse that would make any scholar proud. 

Congratulations to all seventeen participants in Wednesday's Poetry by Heart middle school level competition at the Agora! Our three winners will travel to Paris and the Institut de La Tour on Wednesday, March 9, for the French national "inter-schools" competition.

After a lesson about the basic elements of design, our first graders were able to quickly understand that letters when taken out of context are merely lines and shapes. They created two pieces of art, one using black marker and one with pastels. Students were in awe that they had made their names disappear using the simple yet magical qualities of camouflage!

Cinquième students recently imagined that they were an  immigrant, conducting extensive research and creating a scrapbook telling of their journey and new life in the US. Each journal includes a diary entry, a letter to a loved one back home, and an op-ed article for a newspaper back in "the old country." The final component of the project was the in-class "showcase," which allowed students to visit each other's work as if they were on display in a museum and learn about immigrants from a wide variety of backgrounds.

With the hope of consolidating some valuable vocabulary and spreading a little Northwest North American pride at the same time, our Cinquièmes recently participated in what I affectionately call “The Bigfoot Challenge,”  a timed vocabulary exercise.

In addition to the continuing integration of more diversity into our curriculums, we take a moment every year to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which kicks off our celebration of Black History Month.

A truly great day was had by the three Troisième classes at the Musée de la Grande Guerre on December 3. The students were split up into three groups and each group had a guided tour and a workshop.

We were thrilled to have an in-person Holiday Sale this year! The various section food booths sold delicious, typical culinary treats, while their crafts stands were loaded with artisanal and handmade items. Thank all our wonderful parent volunteers who put time and effort to make the event such a special one!

American Section families showed their generosity this past Thanksgiving weekend, with numerous families and students donating their time at the National Food Bank collection's at nearby grocery stores. All the food collected goes directly to Le Seve food bank in Saint-Germain-en-Laye Bel Air.

Thanksgiving celebrations took place both in and out of the classroom. Lower School students enjoyed many traditional Thanksgiving-related activities and learned what it means to be thankful. 

Our fabulous parents baked-up hundreds of servings of traditional Thanksgiving desserts, which were shared with our French and section colleagues on all three campuses. 

The Section recently participated in a tree-planting ceremony in Chambourcy's Désert de Retz, commemorating Thomas Jefferson's visit to the gardens, with all its folies, during his time as US Ambassador to France. During the memorable event, which reunited many local dignitaries, students delivered a speech on Jefferson's life and performed The Star-Bangled Banner and La Marseillaise. 

Students in Sixième class were recently asked to imagine that the school's library was set to be named for a hero of the American Revolution. Whom should the school's Board select? In addition to offering students the opportunity to hone their budding research skills, they were also given the opportunity to defend their choice, while working on their oral skills--by presenting their choice of candidate through a spirited debate in the classroom. 

American Section students of all ages enjoyed some Halloween fun in the days before the Toussaint vacation. Students from PreK through Quatrième were treated to Halloween parties, while the Upper School students were thrilled to receive treat bags of Halloween candy. 

In their study of The Catcher in the Rye, Troisième students  were asked to pretend that they were psychologists, and were tasked with unearthing the experiences that led to Holden Caulfield's mental crisis and to explain the traumatic factors in his youth that led to an eventual breakdown. 

Thank you to the many American Section families who participated in the annual Opération Fôret Propre on October 9! Over 3,1 tons of trash was collected at the various collection sites in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Fourqueux, one ton more than in 2020. The Fourqueux organizers were extremely grateful that the American Section chose to participate in their corner of the forest!

Students from the class of 2022 joined their parents and teachers for a long-awaited celebratory "Terminale Welcome Cocktail" last weekend. This traditional kick-off to the Senior year was much appreciated by all. 

Our Quatrièmes enjoyed a full-day outing to the Fondation GoodPlanet recently. The focus of the day was a better understanding of the environmental issues our world faces today, as well as finding solutions to living a more sustainable life. 

Life seemed to take on a return to near-normal as a multitude of American Section students and their families attended our traditional 'Back-to-School' Picnic at the Centre Aérée La Forestine in Aigremont. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous and it was altogether a beautiful community gathering, the first since Covid-19 changed our way of life. 

We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather to take cap and gown yearbook photos of the class of 2022. There was also ample time for some fun candid shots and lots of laughter to mark the start of what promises to be a memorable Senior year.

As part of their study of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the Troisièmes made a life map of five important moments in their life thus far: international moves, disastrous haircuts, broken bones, the arrival or departure of loved ones, embarrassing accidents... and exercise that allowed for both introspection and creativity.

As a living history exercise and a way to commemorate the 20^th anniversary, many of our Middle Schoolers were encouraged to interview someone about their 9/11 experience. Though our students were not alive on that infamous day, their daily lives, along with teenagers all over the world, are affected by the events that happened that Tuesday morning. 

Close to 50 parent volunteers, representing students from Mat.2 through Terminale and from all three of our campuses, gathered this past week for the Homeroom Parent training session in the Lycée château.

The Terminale Welcome assembly, held on the first day of school, was a fitting occasion to share words of wisdom with our students and to present a series of awards discerned by the Upper School faculty.

After over 18 months of virtual get-togethers, it was pure pleasure to welcome many of our new families to the Section to an in-person gathering!

An enormous thank you to the Homeroom Parents for organizing a fabulous back-to-school outing for our Sixièmes! American Section students from both the Collège International and the Collège Marcel Roby enjoyed a morning playing in the trees.

The Faculty and Staff of the American Section are ready for another academic year! We look forward to welcoming students to our classrooms next week. 

Congratulations to 58 members of the American Section Class of 2021! We are very proud of their hard work and dedication, which are illustrated by their impressive OIB results. 5% of the class received a mention assez bien, 38% a mention bien, 43% a mention très bien, and 10% mention très bien avec félicitations du jury!

Two of our Termainles were recently honored in a ceremony organized for the winners of the Concours National de la Résistance et de la Déportation. Alexander was awarded first place in the Yvelines and second in the Académie de Versailles this year. Julie won first prize in the 2019-2020 session of the contest for her project centering on the role of the press in the Resistance of 1940.

Our budding authors and illustrators in Lower School successfully completed the publishing of their White Books, which are no longer white. In fact, they are filled with personal narratives, magic bean adventures, animal stories, mysteries, poetry, and fantasies. From Kindergarten to Fifth grade, students drafted, edited, wrote, and illustrated a book according to their level’s theme.

With the lifting of Covid restriction in June, a different version of our well known "Tournoi des Etoiles" was invented in order to give all 500 plus players across 14 sections a chance to play and win the cup. 

American Section students at Roby were recently invited to contribute to a "community art project" in the library. The goal was to create something that would symbolize the diversity and unity of our student body.

As visitors are not allowed onto the Lycée campus, the Middle School Theatre production of The Wizard of Oz was filmed and then live-streamed to a home audience on the evening of June 16. 

The American Section's Middle School Faculty and Staff joined students and proud parents to celebrate their end of collège. The ceremony, which was held online, was every bit as moving as could be expected.

The Lycée International "Promo 2021" enjoyed a Covid-style version of the Lycée International's traditional Fête des Terminales on Monday,  June 7 in the beautiful park around the Château d'Hennemont. 

The Roby Quatrième team, which included four American Section students, won the Dicos d’Or competition in their category! The contest took place on Youtube last Thursday, May 20.

The 350 Terminale students from the Lycée's fourteen sections were treated to a colorful Covid-friendly "Prom" concocted by the American Section on May 20.

This past week, the Lycée International Student Council offered a groundbreaking workshop on an important life skill--How to Speak in Public.

The newest members of our community are a pair of fluffy sheep who have come to eat the grass! They arrived from Brittany and are currently living in a pen at the top of campus. 

This year, after months of learning and raising awareness about gender and racial discrimination within education, the Human Rights Team hosted their annual informative event on May 4. 

Our Night In virtual gala raised over 38,000€! Thank you to all the local businesses and individuals who contributed to our extensive auction catalog. Every penny raised directly benefits our students.

A big thank you to those who participated in the recent donation drive! We received several hundred euros worth of diapers, infant formula, and diaper wipes. The benefits went directly to mothers at a local refugee center.

What do you get when you combine a published poet with a bunch of eager Quatrièmes? You get magic, that's what! It was  another memorable moment in our Middle School classrooms when Quatrièmes got to meet Sarina Romero, a Master of Fine Arts graduate from New York University.

The health restrictions brought on by the pandemic have compelled us to appreciate in-person exchanges more than ever. Nowhere was this more in evidence than this past Wednesday when our 58 Terminale students were fêted with the Section's traditional 100 Days Celebration.

The 2020-21 edition of Compass magazine was published this week. The theme of the magazine is A Year Like No Other. 

Compass is available for online reading here. 

Last week, our Sixièmes got to participate in some essential learning for the future when they met for a special lesson on the importance of "'team building," how to achieve it, and why its creation is important.

Terminale student Maïa Lundy appeared on France 24 earlier this week, in a debate about Disinformation in the Digital Age. She very capably represented the American Section and the Lycée International. You may watch a video of the interview here. 

"How do you get a detention?" "Are there vegetarian meals in the cafeteria?" "Do the older students bother 6èmes?" "How do you know where your classes are?" These are just a few of the questions that 5th graders "asked the experts" at Wednesday evening's "What's It Like in Sixième?" event.

Thank you to scores of American Section students and their families who took part in the 2021 edition of the Lycée-wide read-a-thon! American Section students raised well over 11,600€!

Last week all sixty of our Troisièmes deleted all social media apps from their phones and discovered what it was like to live "off-line." Here you will find a fascinating five minute video of what they discovered during this experiment. 

Aligning, once again with the projet d’école at the Lycée, our theme for Project Week this year was Portraits. Each level chose an artist or artistic idea to study and eventually create a masterpiece of their own.

From historical figures such as George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Jessie Owens, to contemporaries including Amanda Gorman and LeBron James, our Lower School students have spent the past month researching, reading, and writing about generations of influential African-Americans.

In the spirit of Martin Luther King’s life work, the Human Rights Team decided to hold its first annual “Mix It Up” at lunch. The idea of “mixing it up” is that the students go sit with someone new and find something they have in common or simply get to know each other better.

COVID restrictions might keep us from gathering for special events in person but it can’t keep us from getting together online.Moving the event online this year allowed us to include Kindergarteners, 1^st graders, and 2^nd graders as well as 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders.

America's debt to its immigrant ancestors received major recognition this past week with the Cinquièmes' presentations of the annual Immigration Project. Students were able to learn from and appreciate different aspects of this vital part of American history through hands-on peer learning and sharing.

In honor of the inauguation of the 46th president of the United States of American, we hosted special "coffee breaks" for the French teachers on our three campuses.

As part of our celebration of Black History Month, teachers are having important discussions with their students about the state of things 58 years after MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech. 

In their study of different types of nonfiction texts, fourth graders studied news reports and the parts of a newspaper. Using notes from their classmates, they wrote brief news stories telling what their classmates did during the December vacation.

The Schnapper community came together and collected an amazing 395 kilos of needed food and hygiene products to serve our local community - a community, like many others, going through some difficult times.

American Section students made 183 beautiful cards to brighten the holidays for the elderly residents of local nursing homes.

Our Lycée Sixième students recently presented group Shakespeare projects in literature class.

Our Parents to Parents Committee recently organized an online workshop about Digital Parenting Workshop led by expert Elizabeth Milovidov. 

The American Section community volunteered en masse to help at last weekend's food drive! Some 28 tons of food were collected last weekend at Carrefour Montesson and Casino Maisons Laffitte, a 77% increase from last year. 

This Thanksgiving week, Lower School classes focused on gratitude and what we are thankful for; letters and cards were written and feathers were crafted to decorate turkey tails.

For several weeks now, a group of Roby Quartrièmes have met in one of the Section's classrooms during lunch on Fridays to share their passion for anime and manga.

Our Halloween celebrations this year were a very different from our traditional celebrations,  but this is far from a normal year!

Our Second Graders recently completed a science unit in which they used an orange Halloween pumpkin to learn the process of scientific enquiry.

Mr. Jones’ Seconde class took several perspectives – socio-cultural, ecological-environmental, economic and political - to debate for their geography unit the consequences of building the largest dam in the world.

Quatrième students have been studying George Orwell's Animal Farm, and learning about persuasive communication.

Wow! The outpouring of love and appreciation was widespread and abundant on Monday and was a wonderful way to start the week.

Our first Grade 3 in-class experiment was a big success, as students collaborated to design and test constructions to withstand earthquakes.

The Sixième Advisory program officially began this week when our current Cinquième students wrote letters to our incoming Sixième students.

Congratulations to all the students who stepped forward and agreed to take on the responsibilities of class representatives in our Student Council!

The Terminale teaching team gathered on Zoom to greet this year's Terminales to wish them success in their last year of high school and award three academic prizes.

American Section Lower School classes began with much excitement this week as students met their teachers and discovered their newly updated classrooms.

Thanks to the initiative and organizational talents of our parents, our newest Middle School students enjoyed an afternoon in the trees the day before school began.

The American Section faculty and staff are thrilled to all be back in school! We all look forward to a fabulous, albeit unique, year! 

The graduating class Class of 2020 took part in a well-deserved graduation ceremony last Saturday.

Congratulation to Terminale student Alexandre Gliott, who recently won the Paris-area "Poetry by Heart" competition.

The American Section community took advantage of everyone being at stuck at home to hold a fun-filled, whole-Section Spirit Week! Students, faculty, staff, and parents dressed to the theme of the day, for both daily Zoom lessons and a bit of family fun.

According to national sources, in 2020 the Lycée International has again been named one of France's top schools.

With all French schools closed due to coronavirus, American Section students and faculty transitioned to online learning at 8:00 am on Monday, March 13. 

Our Upper School thespians memorably staged August, Osage County, a dark story of family dysfunction. Simmering tensions exploded in fast-paced scenes that oscillated between comedy and tragedy.

Thanks to a team of experts, all members of our fifth-grade Quatrième class got answers to their burning questions about life in Middle School last Monday evening. Their top concerns? Lockers, croix, the cafeteria, and the schedule. 

This year's India Exchange Trip was a life-changing experience for 18 motivated Première students. 

Our delegates did an outstanding job representing Yemen at this year's THIMUN conference.

Troisièmes enjoyed an exceptional evening out as the Northern Lights came to Fourqueux.

From Hamilton to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to a guided street art walk and a visit of the Tate Modern, this year's London trip was an action-packed three days!

The buzz in Lower School was tangible as third through fifth grade students hoped to be crowned the winner of the Lower School’s first Spelling Bee!

This year's Potluck Supper, with a Super Bowl theme, was an enjoyable evening, filled with delicious food, fun activities, and very pleasant company.