For 10 Years, Students Have Experienced French Life Through the John Carroll Internship

During the late spring and summer months, about a dozen Georgetown students make the quiet, charming and picturesque town of Saint-Omer in northern France their home for six weeks. There, students immerse themselves in the local culture and traditions and work summer internships as part of the John Carroll Internship Program through the Department of French and Francophone Studies.

Founded in 2015, the program provides students with opportunities to practice their French language skills and gain cultural insights in a town of about 15,000 residents located more than 150 miles from Paris. The program, which was born out of the historic connection between Saint-Omer’s Jesuit community and Georgetown University’s founder, John Carroll, celebrated its 10th year this past summer.

“Our goal is for the students to gain professional experiences with their internships but also to allow them to have a cultural and social experience,” said Farima Sadigh Mostowfi, a teaching professor and director of the Persian Studies Program in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Past internships have included employment at museums, government offices, libraries, animal sanctuaries, small businesses, country clubs and educational institutions. During the six weeks in Saint-Omer, which typically runs from May until mid-July, the students stay with a host family.  

The students’ level of French must be advanced, said Mostowfi, who serves as the internship coordinator, but they don’t need to be a French major or minor. Students are required to have taken at least one French class. The department hosts information sessions through April for those interested in learning more.

“This internship was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever gotten to experience in my entire life,” said Maya Taylor (C’27), a computer science major minoring in psychology and Jewish civilization who participated in the program last summer.

“Being fully immersed in the French language significantly improved my comprehension skills, which I’ll carry with me into future French classes at Georgetown,” she said. “I’ve gotten to explore, meet all kinds of new people and make friendships that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”

The John Carroll Connection

When Professor Mostowfi arrived at Georgetown in 2003, she had lived for 30 years in Lille, France, a city about an hour drive away from Saint-Omer. 

Once in DC, she became a member of an association that discussed topics related to northern France. At one of the meetings, someone from Saint-Omer spoke about the city and mentioned how Carroll and his cousins had lived in Saint-Omer. 

Carroll, as Emma Doerfler (C’18) wrote in a 2017 article, left the English colony in Maryland in the 1740s to begin his studies at the English Jesuit College in Saint-Omer. At that time, the Jesuits had found refuge in France after being banished from Protestant England. 

Mostowfi was intrigued. 

Perhaps, she thought, Georgetown could send students to Saint-Omer for internships, similar to the unpaid undergraduate internships offered in France when Mostowfi had taught at the University of Lille.

Before the program became official, the Department of French and Francophone Studies sent three students to Saint-Omer for summer internships. 

“One student worked in the tourist office, one in a golf course and another worked in the town library,” said Susanna Lee, a professor and chair of the department. “They had a wonderful time.”

In 2015, the department met with representatives from Saint-Omer, including François Decoste, the president of the Pays de Saint-Omer Agglomeration at the time. That marked the official start of the partnership, Mostowfi said. Thirteen students went to Saint-Omer the following summer, and about 120 have participated in the program since its inception. There weren’t any internships in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, the program offered seven virtual internships. 

“For students, it is a total immersion in the French language, culture and institutional and economic functioning,” said Nicolas Rochas, who is in charge of coordinating the program with the Agency of Urban Planning, Development, and Heritage of the Saint-Omer region. “For local actors, whether host organizations or families, this program is a lever for internationalization, promotion of the region and enriching exchanges on a professional, linguistic and human level.”

A Fully Immersive Experience

Taylor, one of the interns last summer, applied for the internship after completing her advanced French class. 

“I wanted to continue improving my French in an immersive environment,” she said. “I enjoy the French classes at Georgetown, but nothing compares to being surrounded by the language 24/7.”

In France, she worked about 35 hours a week at a social center in Arques, a town that borders Saint-Omer. Alongside other interns from different countries, Taylor educated children ages 6 to 14 through intercultural activities and reached out to other organizations across Europe to help set up youth exchanges and mobility programs.

The internship was unpaid but Taylor received free transportation and meals through her host family, she said. Students can also apply for the McCarthy Scholarship to help defray costs of travel. 

“The highlight of my trip was becoming friends with people from all around the world,” Taylor said. “I got to meet and bond with many new people from France, Turkey, Portugal and Italy. It was incredibly interesting to exchange thoughts and ideas across so many cultures.”

The jobs vary each year, and Mostowfi and her colleagues decide the students’ internship assignments. According to Rochas, more than 36 employers have participated in the program. 

Lauren Vick (C’28), who is double majoring in French and government, worked as a hostess and server at the Hôtel du Golf in Lumbres, France, a small village close to Saint-Omer.

Zoe Frantz (C’26) wanted to gain work experience abroad to help with her post-graduation career search. In France, she worked at a business school based in Longuenesse and Dunkirk. She would take the bus to Dunkirk two days a week and stayed in Longuenesse with her host family for the other days. 

At the business school, Frantz, who is majoring in French and Francophone studies and government, worked within the Department of International Programs to coordinate and plan new and existing programs with international partners.

“I enjoyed spending time in the centreville of Saint-Omer with the other Georgetown students, unwinding after our days of work in many different places,” Frantz said. “It was a group of people I would have never met if it weren’t for this program.”

Learning Beyond Your Comfort Zone

The John Carroll Internship program helped push Francesca Scovino (C’27) out of her comfort zone.

Before the program, Scovino said she felt shy or embarrassed to speak French out of fear of making mistakes. Working and living in France gave her opportunities to put into action what she was learning in her French classes.

“I gained a great amount of confidence in my ability to speak French,” said Scovino, an American studies major who is minoring in French and theology and religious studies. “I learned to trust myself and the knowledge I had gained in my French courses at Georgetown as well as what I was learning there in my everyday interactions.”

Scovino worked for the communications team at Arc International, a global manufacturer of tableware products. She assisted with marketing and brand collaborations and researched potential brand partnerships for the company. “I developed several proposals for new branding campaigns and marketing strategies,” she said.

By the end of her internship, Scovino said she could comfortably sit in a conversation and understand what was happening. 

“The internship is challenging but extremely rewarding,” she said.

Cole Hartung (C’28) came to Georgetown in part because of the John Carroll Internship Program. 

“I was instantly enamored with the idea of spending time in France working and experiencing the culture while integrated into a host family even before I had begun to consider attending one of Professor Mostowfi’s info sessions,” said Hartung, who is double majoring in French and English and minoring in history. “Looking back, I do not regret my decision a bit and am grateful that I was offered the opportunity.”

He spent his internship working at the La Coupole museum — a former World War II bunker — with the education team, preparing English translations for exhibitions. He walked to work everyday and learned new things about French culture. Among his takeaways are that saucisson, a French dry-cured sausage, is “really, really delicious,” and that in France, is it customary to say something different if you sneeze three times. 

“Trying new and weird things can be even more fun and rewarding than I thought,” he said. “I unexpectedly made friends with a lot of strangers when I was there, which encouraged me to try and break free of my socially awkward bubble once I got back to campus.”

Hartung encourages any student interested to apply for the program.

“If you have nothing else going on this summer I would absolutely do this internship,” he said. “If you do have something going on, cancel your plans. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I do not at all regret taking.”

(Top photo of Saint-Omer by Carl Peterolff)