I came to W&M thinking, “I’m just going to take a French class for fun, I probably won’t major in it.” My first semester in Professor Compan’s Cross-Cultural Perspectives class made me fall in love with the French Department and find a home here. I decided to take on a French minor. The more French classes I took, the more I was convinced this was the place for me, and that minor became a major. Now I know that studying French at William & Mary was one of the best decisions I ever made. Through the McCormack-Reboussin scholarship, I was able to conduct research in Senegal and France and complete my honors thesis on Senegalese women’s rights and autonomy. I was mentored by so many wonderful professors throughout my time here, including Professors Compan, Pacini, and Lee-Ferrand, and I’m so grateful for the guidance they gave me and the friends I found in their classes. I am leaving W&M a better French speaker and better person because of the French & Francophone Studies program, and in my journey through law school and the legal profession in the coming years, I hope to use the skills I’ve gained here to communicate with communities in need all over the world.
