Steeped in Vincentian Custom, St. John’s Paris Location Celebrates 10 Years

September 7, 2018

Reflecting St. John’s enduring dedication to supply college students a world campus, this summer time the College marked the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the favored Paris location, a fixture in its standard research overseas packages.

The College first opened the Paris, France, location in August 2008, by means of an settlement with the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians). On the time, it was the most recent vacation spot for St. John’s burgeoning research overseas program, Uncover the World (DTW). Immediately, DTW: Europe gives college students the chance to check in Paris; Rome, Italy; and Limerick, Eire, in a single semester.

Situated in Paris’s standard St. Germain district throughout the Sixth Arrondissement, the property is discovered throughout the road from the Vaneau metro cease and a brief stroll down the rue de Sévres from Le Bon Marché.

In accordance with Matthew Pucciarelli, Ed.M., Affiliate Provost of International Research, the neighborhood is harking back to two of Manhattan’s most distinctive neighborhoods. “I’ve all the time thought that the realm felt like a mix of Greenwich Village and the Higher West Aspect,” he mentioned. “All three have a historical past of Bohemian aptitude.”

Whereas the Paris location first opened its doorways to St. John’s college students a decade in the past, the constructing itself is a component of a big advanced of buildings, a few of which date again to 1685. The unique property was given to the Vincentians in 1817 by King Louis XVIII following the French Revolution. For greater than 125 years, that website served because the Vincentian’s “Maison Mère,” or motherhouse. The huge advanced additionally features a chapel and reliquary that holds the stays of St. Vincent de Paul, who died on September 27, 1660.

Paris as Director Basic of the Daughters of Charity, feels one of many key benefits for college students and the College is town’s connection to the Vincentians.

“Each church you go to in Paris has an image, a window, or a statue of St. Vincent de Paul,” he mentioned. “It’s the place he labored his complete grownup life. St. Louise de Marillac; Rosalie Rendu, D.C.; and Frédéric Ozanam did most of their ministries in Paris. So, there’s a sturdy connection between town, the Vincentians, and for the previous decade—St. John’s College. Our college students have the chance to expertise all of it.”

Mr. Pucciarelli agrees with this notion. “Between St. John’s presence on the website, the Congregation of the Mission, and the reliquary, it truly is a small Vincentian neighborhood,” he mentioned. “After they enterprise into town, college students additionally get to expertise the vibrancy of the fashionable Paris—a metropolis that, like New York, is extremely multicultural and sophisticated.”

Along with DTW: Europe, the Paris location hosts Uncover France: Paris and Uncover France: Biology and Chemistry. Each program in Paris takes benefit of town’s historical past and site by providing programs in Arts and Structure, amongst different core topics.

“It’s a actual alternative for an training you can not get anyplace else,” mentioned Fr. Griffin. “It’s the artwork, structure, and historical past. What could possibly be extra spectacular than the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower—or Notre Dame? It’s incomparable.”

Following the College’s Vincentian mission, service-learning is a key part of the programs supplied in Paris, giving college students a perspective on town that few guests can entry. St. John’s college students on the Paris campus repeatedly volunteer at native faculties, soup kitchens, and different places all through town.

Theresa Vogel, a junior who’s majoring in English, with minors in French, Theology, and Enterprise, spent the spring semester in Paris, the place she volunteered her time at an area highschool by serving to college students apply their English talking and listening abilities. “As they turned extra comfy of their fluency, they’d ask me to talk French, in order that they may assist me, simply as I used to be serving to them,” she mentioned. “It was a tremendous expertise, and I’m assured that all of us realized from one another.”

Farida Khatchadourian, Affiliate Director of St. John’s Paris location, has been part of the crew there since 2010 and is liable for the day-to-day administration of the location. “My fondest reminiscence of Paris isn’t a single occasion or a location,” she mentioned. “It’s the college students who’ve studied right here and communicate even after commencement.”

One such scholar is Sasha Tylerbest ’15CPS, who attended the Paris location as a participant of DTW: Europe in Fall 2012 and returned two years later for Uncover France: Paris.

“After taking part in DTW: Europe, I fell in love with the wonder and variety of Paris, so, I went again in 2014,” mentioned Ms. Tylerbest. “It was a life-changing expertise. St. John’s college students are lucky sufficient to attend a College that has campuses in among the most wonderful cities.” —Sasha Tylerbest

Greater than 44 p.c of St. John’s undergraduates take part in at the least one research overseas alternative by the point they graduate. In accordance with the Institute of Worldwide Schooling’s 2017 Open Doorways® Report on Worldwide Instructional Change, the College is within the prime 10 p.c nationwide for research overseas participation amongst doctorate-granting American universities.

Mitchell Petit-Frere ’14C, ’16GCPS attended the Paris location in 2012 and once more in 2014. Throughout his time overseas, he turned immersed in the local people by means of one in every of France’s enduring pastimes—soccer.

“Nearly daily after class, we might stroll over to the Champ de Mars to play soccer with the locals,” he recalled. “We turned regulars and made just a few new mates alongside the way in which. It was an unimaginable expertise that I’ll take with me for the remainder of my life.” —Mitchell Petit-Frere