From July to August 2019, Seton Hill student Sydney Miller worked at Petit Paris, a bilingual French preschool in Mount Pleasant, Pa. As an aspiring French teacher, Sydney found this internship beneficial. “It was an extraordinary experience,” she said. “The preschool functioned entirely in French and by the end, my language acquisition in French skyrocketed.”

Since starting college, Sydney has been using her resources at Seton Hill to better prepare herself for the future. With the help of the Associate Director of Disability Services, Kimberley Bassi-Cook, Sydney was able to make her volunteer work at Petit Paris count for college credit. 

“The preschool functioned entirely in French and by the end, my language acquisition in French skyrocketed.”

Sydney also plans to study abroad during her junior year. Michelle Chossat, Ph.D, associate professor of French and coordinator of the Modern Languages Department in the School of Humanities, is helping her to finalize the trip. “I'm in the process of applying to schools and I found a school in the south of France,” Sydney said. “The school is called The Institute for American Universities located in Aix en Provence, France. It's a wonderful tiny college town that will give me the resources and experience I need to become a fantastic French teacher.”

Sydney plans to teach French at a middle school or high school level. “I feel that working at Petit Paris helped me to see different styles of pedagogy that one day, I hope to incorporate in my own classroom,” Sydney said.