FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 28, 2010

Contact:  Robert Preston, Jr.,
              912.260.4276
              robert.preston@sgc.edu

SGC Student Studying in France

Danza Smith just got her first passport. As you read this, she is in France this summer to study French at the Institut de Touraine in Tours. Danza is continuing a South Georgia College tradition that began in 1989, when she was still a baby. That year, Gina McClelland (now Duss) was the first SGC student to participate in the Tours program. In between, three other SGC students also traveled to Tours to study French. They were Shari McGrath in 1990, Rebecca Futch in 1994, and Lori Perez in 1997. The common thread among these five women is Dr. Michael Fisher, who has taught French at SGC since 1985. He has dubbed this group of women, “The Sisterhood of Traveling to France.”

Way back in 1989, Dr. Fisher learned of a program run by West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia) that allowed students to spend several weeks in France during the summer, living with host families and participating in an intensive French language program. Dr. Fisher set about raising money to help Gina participate in the program. Four times after that, when he has had a talented French student who was interested in participating, he again put on his fundraising hat. His efforts to send students to France led eventually to the establishment of the Ruth Doling Study Abroad Scholarship, which was endowed by retired Humanities/Learning Support Chair Pat Trautmann and named after her mother.

Since Lori Perez’s trip in 1997, a number of factors have changed at the college. The change from the quarter system to semester system meant that fewer students finished the four-semester sequence of French classes necessary to major in French. And the advent of SGC’s study abroad program in Costa Rica and the growth of the University System’s European Council programs to several countries meant that there were more students vying for the same scholarship money. It has been a number of years since Dr. Fisher has found the right combination of student and funding to send someone to Tours. But things began to come together in the fall of 2009 when Lori Perez contacted him to say that she wanted to “give back.” Her initial donation led to several others from SGC faculty, the SGC Foundation, and fund-raisers through the Study Program. As a result, this summer Danza Smith is going to France.

Danza, a Hazlehurst native and graduate of Jeff Davis County High, has received a host of awards during her time at South Georgia College. At the 2009 Honors Day celebration, she received the Foreign Language Award and the Humanities Award this year. Danza was also named Tutor of the Year at the annual Student Support Services luncheon in April. She is very excited about the opportunity to participate in the Study Abroad program. “I think that studying in France at the Institute of Touraine will not only be beneficial but also an unforgettable experience that can open new doors to countless career paths,” she said in her essay application for the Ruth Doling Study Abroad Scholarship. “It’s hard for me to grasp that with this amazing opportunity I will be living, breathing, and eating in another culture.”

Each of the women who have gone to Tours is effusive in her praise of the program and all that it offers. According to Shari, “The institute is a wonderful place with encouraging and patient professors who were always dedicated to making us better communicators. I always felt like they had an interest in creating a personal experience for every student.” But the value of the experience went far beyond the classroom. Getting to know people from other places was just as important. As Gina put it, “I made so many friends, from as far as Saudi Arabia to closer to home in North Carolina. Some of them were almost fluent in the French language, while others were just beginning. Either way, we were all excited to share our experiences with each other.”

Learning about a different way of life was interesting to the women. Lori says, “I walked more than I ever have in my life. When I arrived in Tours, my host picked me up (by foot) from the train station and we walked to the house, luggage in hand. Besides the occasional bus ride, I don’t remember stepping foot in a car while I was there.” The women all agree about the value of living with a host family. As Rebecca puts it, “It is only through full immersion programs with extended stays with a host family that a student truly benefits from the experience.” She recalls visiting flea markets in neighboring villages with her host mother and learning “how to cook some fantastic French meals and what wines go with what meats.”

All of the women in the “Sisterhood” have used the French they polished in Tours in one way or another. Gina has taught both French and Spanish at private schools; Lori speaks French daily in her job as a manager at Wembley International, a company that exports goods to French-speaking countries; Rebecca double-majored in French and Political Science at the University of Georgia; and Shari found her French helpful when she and her husband honeymooned in Paris, as well as when her family hosted a French exchange student.

So, in a few weeks, Danza Smith will embark on what Lori Perez calls a “great adventure.” When asked to give Danza some advice, Lori suggested that she “be open-minded and embrace the differences surrounding you. You will NEVER be the same.” The other members of the “Sisterhood of Traveling to France” would surely agree.

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About South Georgia College

South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu) was founded in 1906 and is a two-year institution in the University System of Georgia. Located in Douglas, Ga., the college's environment gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty.