The Oakwood Sister City Association’s student foreign exchange program was revitalized in 2009. Since then, over 20 foreign students have been hosted in Oakwood, with the same number from this area going abroad.
A professor who teaches French at Wright State University, Kirsten Halling said, “Lucy Baker (of Oakwood) and I restarted it with a group of people after a sleepy period when nothing was happening.”
Halling herself has hosted two French students over four summers, at ages 15 and 16: Armance Lardillat and Paul Chezeaud. The stays are typically two-three weeks during school break.
Halling said, “What’s really neat is the relationships that result from the hosting experience. My daughter, Charlotte, has a great relationship with Armance.” Lardillat has stayed with Charlotte in her dorm at WSU, and Charlotte visited Lardillat’s university in London this past summer.
Halling’s son, Walker, has built a lasting friendship with the other half of his exchange team, Paul Chezeaud. They vacationed to the south of France, where Walker learned how to sail a catamaran.
Halling was president of the program for two and a half years and is currently the director of student exchanges.
“When our students go over there, they’re going to Paris, the City of Light, and the Eiffel Tower. They get to take the train in and get an insider’s view of Paris from Parisians,” Halling said.
The OSCA Student Exchange program holds fundraisers to help students who are interested in participating with $500 scholarships. The next one is a wine tasting with a Parisian slant.
A blind wine tasting called The Judgement of Paris will benefit its student exchange program. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Oakwood Community Center, 105 Patterson Road.
The wine tasting will convene in the Great Room and bring back the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, aka The Judgement of Paris. Four decades ago, British wine merchant Steven Spurrier held tastings in two categories: red wines and top-quality chardonnays. The reds were French Bordeaux wines tested against California’s Cabernet Sauvignons. All were amazed when the California wines were judged to be the best.
As in that contest, the identities of several wines will be hidden until all tasters have voted.
Tickets to the event cost $25 each, and that includes a light lunch. Those interested can call OSCA president Erin Terpstra at 937-260-3799.
Members of the OSCA enjoy cultural exchanges, local networking dinners, French language lessons, guided foreign tourism and E-pal relationships with people in all three Oakwood sister or friendship cities, Outremont, Canada; Unterhaching, Germany, and Le Vesinet, a suburb of Paris.
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