Nineteen high school students and two teachers came to Niles North from Strasbourg, France, as part of the French exchange program. The students and teachers will be in Skokie for two weeks, from Feb. 13  until Feb. 27. They will be staying in the homes of District 219 students, visiting the school and shadowing their American hosts.

Each school day, the French visitors will be taking an excursion to many of Chicago’s most famous downtown locations – all the museums, Navy Pier, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, WGN TV, the Willis Tower and the Argonne National Library – in order to learn more about American culture and experience the true essence of where they’re staying.

“What’s really exciting about exchanges like ours is that everyone who spends time with one of the students from France sees how much they have in common,” French instructor Eileen Walvoord said. “They see that people around the world have the same basic human needs and values. This insight then helps our students to be accepting of differences, whether cultural or linguistic, and to see the world through the eyes of people from different cultures.”

In June, the students from District 219 who hosted the French students will be going to stay with them in their hometown of Strasbourg  to experience the French culture as well. They will be hosted there for two weeks, and then for four days after that, they will visit Paris.