As part of the international meeting “Access Europe” (1), five 12th graders from Jeanne d’Arc secondary school and their two teachers, Ms. Szelag (English) and Mr. Delavault (history-geography) spent a week in Aranjuez, near Madrid (Spain), along with other high school girls from Finland, Spain, Portugal, Romania and Turkey. Thirty high school students were invited to discuss the practice of civic education in the six countries.

“The purpose of this meeting is to work together on civic training, create materials to teach citizenship, but also to give these young people a unique experience,” explained Pak Delaveault upon their departure from Tarbes. The apparent enthusiasm of the five high school students Tarb, Claire, Edem, Jean, Maxime and Calista, said a lot about this Iberian visit which was announced as enriching and wonderful, with exchange times in English at the Colegio Sagrada Familia in Aranjuez but also visits and various activities.

“We are the only secondary school in France participating in a project co-financed by the European Commission which for us is part of our EMC (Moral and Civic Education) project. This is a three-year project ending this year. Another meeting took place in Portugal in April and the last one will take place in France next June”, detailing Mr. Delaveault.

If these five high school students were selected by their peers to represent the school on the other side of the Pyrenees, all seniors were actively involved in the project. And the company wants all of its students to benefit from its desire to be open to the world. “We are also cooperating with schools in India,” added Ms. Szelag. Without forgetting to welcome foreign students at Tarbes.