Warm "bonjours" were in the air last Wednesday when Princeton High School hosted a breakfast reception for 28 exchange students and two teachers visiting from the Lyc�e Bartholdi in Princeton's sister city, Colmar, in eastern France. Earlier this year, 12 PHS students and four adults traveled to Colmar where they stayed with Lyc�e students and their families. Now it was Princeton's turn to host the visiting students, who were staying until April 7.
On Friday the visitors were met at Borough Hall by Township and Borough representatives, including former Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman, school superintendent Judy Wilson, and Director of Alsace/USA Anne O'Neill.
"This is the way it should work, kids hosting kids" said French teacher Sheila MacRae at Wednesday's breakfast, as French and American students and teachers milled around a table laden with muffins and bagels. Ms. MacRae, who had been on this year's trip to Colmar, and Malachi Wood, another PHS French teacher, helped with arrangements, along with World Language Chair Priscilla Russel.
For the rest of the week the visiting students, who already had spent some time in New York City, attended classes with their hosts, while the four visiting teachers compared notes with their counterparts on the PHS faculty.
The Princeton-Colmar partnership began in 1986, during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, when Mayor Edmund Gerrer and Deputy-Mayor, Richard Riehm, came to New York City as representatives of Colmar, the birthplace of the statue's sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi. Princeton borough Mayor Barbara Sigmund and Mayor Gerrer were both looking for a twin city for their towns; they met and agreed that it would be a good match.
Official ceremonies twinning the two cities were held in May, 1987 in Colmar, and a year later in Princeton. Delegations from each city attended the celebrations, the first of many exchange visits. During the 1988 visit, Colmar officials presented Princeton with the "Petit Vintner," a copy of a Bartholdi statue, which was placed at the corner of Bayard Lane and Monument Drive.