FORT KENT, Maine — After centuries of separation, distant cousins have reunited through an exchange program between schools in Fort Kent and Cholet, France.
Local students met some relatives during trips to France in 2019 and 2023, but their recent visit is the first time they’ve met cousins who are attending the other school.
The two schools have participated in the exchange for about 12 years. Daigle applied in 2011 for a Maine Department of Education program that pairs schools from Maine with those from Maine-et-Loire in France, and Cholet became Fort Kent’s partner. The students began with video chatting, but since 2013 they have been traveling to visit each other in person.
The French group arrived in Aroostook County earlier this month, and many were surprised at some of the differences — including how much bigger everything is in Fort Kent.
“Everything is big. The woods and mountains are big,” Cholet student Loulane Gicquel said Thursday, adding that even the food portions were larger.
This is Gicquel’s first time in America, and she said her experience has been close to what she imagined and seen in movies.
Notably, schools in America are far less strict than in France, she said.
“The relationship between teachers and students is friendly, where in France it’s not like that,” Gicquiel said. “It’s more formal.”
Lucie Moreau of Cholet is a descendant of Acadians who were deported from what is now known as Prince Edward Island. Daigle said Moreau and 97% of the students with French roots at Fort Kent Community High School are descended from the Acadian couple Jean Baptiste Thibodeau and Marie Leblanc, making them all cousins.
Moreau said it was surreal visiting a school in a new country in which she is related to so many students.
“It’s very strange when I know that a lot of people of the school are related to me,” Moreau said.
One notable difference she found in America is that people don’t always eat together, whereas in France families must eat together at the table. She added that it is great to be so close to snow, as she would normally have to drive for eight hours in a car to even see snow or go skiing.
Fort Kent students will travel to France to visit their counterparts in Cholet next March.
Fort Kent French student Zoë Daigle, who is also Daigle’s daughter, said it has been fun hosting the French group.
“There are a lot of things in the U.S. that are strange to French students, and I’m sure that there will be a lot of things that are strange for us and different from a cultural perspective,” she said.
Her father has been involved in the program since she was 6 and it has been an incredible experience being able to see and learn about so many people, she said.
Maddie Morgan, a Fort Kent French student, said one of the biggest differences is how French students interact with teachers.
“They aren’t allowed on their phones, and they have to be very, very respectful to teachers, like how we would have to act if we were talking to the president,” Morgan said.
Fort Kent French student Olivia Hebert said one of the French students told her they loved the McDonald’s milkshakes in America, but that their McDonald’s doesn’t serve milkshakes.
Carter Raymond, who is also a Fort Kent French student, said he is looking forward to seeing how their school lunches in France compare to the ones served in America.
Cholet English teacher Sophie Mousset said this is her second trip to Fort Kent. She also visited last year. Some of the immediate differences between the two countries are the landscapes, she said.
“It’s not so hilly where we live,” Mousset said, “and also the wilderness with the woods, the large roads and, of course, the size of the cars.”
Mousset said Thursday that it was about 18 degrees Celsius in France, which would be roughly 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s much colder here and the snow is a big difference, she said.
But she also sees a greater sense of community than in Cholet, a city of roughly 55,000 people compared to Fort Kent’s 4,100.
“We don’t have this idea that everybody knows everybody and that everybody is ready to help everybody,” Mousset said. “It’s really different.”
In France, the French language has changed with the integration of English and Arabic words, but the French spoken in the St. John Valley region has remained the same over the past century.
“Here, they speak the language probably our great-grandparents would speak,” Mousset said.
Mousset said she and her students are incredibly grateful to have an opportunity to participate in this exchange, and that she hopes it continues for years to come.
This is Daigle’s 11th group of students, and while he said he could never pick a favorite, this year’s students seem to be getting along well.
In the past, he has paid much of the costs of the trip himself, but Madawaska’s Le Club Francais has funded this upcoming trip as well as the last two trips. The club is also providing a $500 scholarship to students who exclusively speak French during the trip.
The difference in fluency in students before and after their trip to France is remarkable, Daigle said, adding that this type of immersion is the best way to make progress in any language.
“You’re not going to be a swimmer unless you jump in the pool,” he said.
