Bonjour ! My name is Sharon Mendieta Ramirez and I am a rising senior studying Romance Languages and Education at Washington and Lee University. I first started learning French during my freshman year of high school and fell in love with language learning ever since. My dream is to become a language teacher one day. As an education minor, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant at W&L and Maury River Middle School. On campus, I serve as the President of the Francophone Student Organization (FSO) and Community Coordinator for the organization English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). During my free time, I enjoy reading, listening to music, singing, and drawing. I am honored to be the Lead Mentor for the French Academy this year and I cannot wait to meet everyone soon!
Bonjour à toutes et à tous! My name is Hannah (pronounced in French as “Anna”) Wangler. As a rising senior at James Madison University, I’m majoring in Modern Foreign Languages with a Concentration in French, and minors in Education, Honors Interdisciplinary Studies, and French Business. My interests include painting, baking, reading, and spending time with my family and Airedale Terrier, Teddy! The best three weeks of my life no doubt were those at the 2018 Virginia Summer Governor’s Language Academy for French (L’académie Française 2018) and I am so honored to return as a Resident Assistant/Monotrice this summer! Ever since my time at the academy at 2018, I’ve dreamed of becoming a French professor and I cannot wait to share my passion for French with other academy participants in June! A bientôt!
Bonjour tout le monde! My name is Henry Shifflett, and I am very excited to be working with you as a mono this year. I’m from Richmond, Virginia, and have lived there my whole life. I attended the academy in 2019 and was a mono in 2021, and I am looking forward to finally being back in person at the academy! I am a second-year student at the University of Virginia, majoring in both French and Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law. I can’t wait to meet you all and spend three great weeks together! À bientôt!
COUCOU! My name is Kendra Diaz! I am one of the wonderful mentors at the 2022 French Academy. I was a student at the academy in 2019. I have been studying French for 7 years now! I currently know 3 languages, English, Spanish, and French but I hope to learn more in the future! I am currently a student at VCU and hope to graduate in 2024, then on my way to dental school! I’m super excited for you to join us at the academy!
My name is Sankeerthna (pronounced as it’s spelled) Vedamtam, and I plan to major in Romance Languages and Psychology as a student at Bryn Mawr College. I adore learning new languages, and my fantastic immersion experience as partof the 2019 French Academy influenced my decision to pursue not just French, but Spanish and Italian as part of my studies. I’m so excited to work with all of you this summer as one of your Resident Assistants. À plutard!
Hello bonjour! My name is Neville. I’m an alumni of Virginia Commonwealth University where I studied French and Spanish. I mentored at the academy in 2020 which was an amazing experience. I’ve spent the past school year teaching English to middle schoolers in Tours, France. I’ve spent most of my life in Virginia but I’ve also lived in both Caen and Tours, France. It showed me just how much an immersion environment benefits language. I’m so excited to get to know everyone and parler français.