Saint-Brieuc 1966

Saint-Brieuc, France is the longest-running active IUHPFL site, as it was one of the three original program sites when IUHPFL was established in 1962. IUHPFL has sent a student group to Saint-Brieuc nearly every year since, with only a few exceptions. The 1966 Saint-Brieuc student cohort had a connection like many other IUHPFL site teams. What makes their group special, however, is that they have been able to reconnect with the entire group after 50 years and pay forward their experience to current and future IUHPFL students.

In 2012, IUHPFL held its 50^th anniversary celebration, and many of the alumni from Saint-Brieuc 1966 attended. This was the first reunion they had since a few get-togethers organized shortly after they returned from Saint-Brieuc. A few members of the group were able to locate everyone from their cohort leading up to the celebration. Reconnecting and meeting with one another sparked an idea: The group wanted to create a scholarship to help current IUHPFL Saint-Brieuc students pay for the program. In 2013, the organizing members sent out a letter to all the 1966 Saint-Brieuc alumni, asking for donations to help get an endowed scholarship up and running. The alumni and their friends and family contributed to create the 1966 Saint-Brieuc Scholarship Endowment. Their donations and generosity have continued since then, as this endowed scholarship has grown over the years. 

In all, the 1966 Saint-Brieuc Scholarship Endowment has helped 34 students participate in the program since 2016, the year it was first used. In 2024 alone, the scholarship helped support the IUHPFL experience for seven students now currently studying and living in the charming Breton town. IUHPFL and the student scholarship recipients greatly appreciate the 1966 Saint-Brieuc cohort’s thoughtfulness and desire to share the experience that meant so much to them.

 After the 2012 IUHPFL-sponsored celebration, the 1966 Saint-Brieuc team held their own reunion in 2017 in Bloomington followed by another in 2019 in Montreal. Some alumni in their group took the time to put together a yearbook-style booklet for the 2017 reunion. Each member of the cohort has a dedicated page, including updates about education, career, and family. They each discuss fond memories of the program and how it affected their lives. The pages also include a picture of each student then and now.

The book is very special. It’s interesting to be able to look at 33 lives and how they converged, diverged, and converged again. When going through the book, trends start to emerge. Of the 33 students, 17 studied French either as a major or minor in college, 11 used French in their career in some capacity, and 14 became teachers or worked in education. Not surprisingly, 20 of the alumni mentioned travel as one of their passions or hobbies, listing destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America as places they have visited. One alumna has made it to all seven continents!

The 1966 Saint-Brieuc stagiaires also share many common memories. They remember enjoying French food, much of it new to them. Roasted rabbit, mussels, crab, tongue, French bread dipped in chocolate, and pâtisseries are just a few of the delicacies they tried that summer. Alumna Ann Wuster Flynn remembers: “I recall a lunch that we had, probably early in our trip. We were given ‘box lunches,’ which were (in part) baguettes slathered with French mustard, probably layered with ham. What I remember, vividly, is the mustard, which was hot to the point of pain, and so, so delicious. And the bread was, to a girl from landlocked Indianapolis, unbelievably wonderful—very hard to eat, very chewy, and nothing like the Wonder bread my mom served at home. I thought I had encountered another planet.”

Another strong memory for many in the group was their trip to the beaches at Normandy where the D-Day invasion occurred. They got to see the American cemetery there and were presented with small pieces of the parachutes from the D-Day landings. Many members also mention the turbulence on the plane ride home, which was, according to many of them, the worst turbulence they ever experienced. After these, the most frequently mentioned memories were of their host families, of their instructors, and of one another.

The effects of that summer were far-reaching. There are the things you might expect: Studying abroad opened the world to the 1966 Saint-Brieuc alumni in new ways; it got them interested in language, culture, and travel. Some mentioned that they had never traveled outside of the United States or even the Midwest before the program. Additionally, many of the participants’ careers were influenced by their summer abroad. Others were able to use their French at times, even if their chosen career path did not directly relate to the language.