On April 1, 25 Boothbay Region High School French students made the journey to Providence, Rhode Island to attend "La fête de la Francophonie des écoles” (the school festival of the French-speaking world), an initiative of the Cultural Service of the French Consulate in Boston and the largest gathering of French students in New England.

Approximately 1,700 American students coming from all over New England gathered in the auditorium of the Providence Career Technical Academy to celebrate together the French language and culture as well as the diversity of the French-speaking world. In order to prepare and participate fully, all students had to not only memorize two French songs but they also had to choose a French-speaking country, make posters and dress in the colors of the flag of that country. BRHS students chose to represent la Belgique, as a tribute to the recent terrorist attacks that hit many innocent people in Bruxelles.

The kids had a great time singing along, stomping their feet and clapping their hands to the Canadian and African rhythms of the two amazing bands that performed for the occasion: SWING, from French-speaking Ontario, and Sidy Maiga from Mali. Students also heard several inspiring bilingual speeches from the officials who came to celebrate: the Consul General of France, Valéry Freland, the Québec Delegate in Boston, Marie-Claude Francoeur, the Consul of Canada in Boston, Franck Ruddock and the Consul of Haiti in Boston, Martine Pierre Dorlean.

They also got to watch short documentaries about the diversity of the French-speaking world: French is spoken by more than 200 million people in 55 countries spread across five continents. But what made this event even more special is the fact that BRHS was the only school representing Maine at this event. For that reason, we had been reserved premium seats and were recognized by the Consul of France!

After the three hour long festivities, BRHS students boarded the bus again for a short drive to the town of Woonsocket to visit the Museum of Work and Culture. A traditional Quebec late lunch, including pea soup and meat pie, awaited us before we started the bilingual visit of the museum. The Museum of Work & Culture, housed in a former textile mill, shares the stories of the Québecois men, women, and children who came to find a better life in Rhode Island’s mill towns in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The mission of the Museum of Work and Culture is to keep alive the story of the French Canadians who built Woonsocket, and whose descendants still form a substantial percentage of the local population. The theme of the permanent exhibition is “La Survivance,” which means not so much "survival" as "persistence and preservation." The MWC documents the struggle of the immigrant French Canadians to maintain their language, religion, and culture in their adopted home. We learned that work in textile mills and the logging industry -- anything besides the backbreaking farm work in Québec -- was what drew them. When they did settle, French Canadians sought to build a sense of community much like what they were used to "back home.” By 1860, about 40,000 French Canadians had settled in the New England area; in the state of Maine alone, six mills opened in the Lewiston area between 1819 and 1869.

Some of the students could relate and recognize the French last name of their grandparents; senior Jaime Wheeler saw her maternal grandparents’ name “Charpentier” on the wall of common names of French Canadian immigrants. Students were able to recreate the immigrant experience as they journeyed from a typical nineteenth century Quebec farmhouse to the floor of a Rhode Island textile mill. They also got to sit at desks in a mock 1920 Catholic school classroom; until the 1920s, most Québécois children attended parochial schools in which the language of instruction was French. This model of a typical classroom showed the dual nature of the immigrant experience: a nun wearing a habit and a prominent cross standing next to the Quebec fleur-de-lis flag while a portrait of George Washington stares at her from the wall.

BRHS students came out of this visit also understanding how these stories of French Canadian immigrants can provide the voice for the universal struggles of all immigrants to America.

Our final stop before heading back to Maine was made downtown Providence to see the sights such as the beautiful state capitol and to do a little shopping at Providence Place.

Our students were wonderful ambassadors of Boothbay Region High School and of the state of Maine! Thank you all for your participation and rendezvous next year.