Issued:  2025-2026

Type:  Teacher grant

Amount:  $500

Reach:  

Applicant(s):  Leah Ward

Description:

Our Andover high schools have been paired with a high school in Wichita's sister city - Orléans, France. We have been exchanging pen pal letters, sending teachers and students back and forth for visits, and otherwise building connections between the next generations of Wichitans and Orléanais youth. This partnership formally began back in the 1970s between military service personnel who helped liberate Orléans from Nazi occupation during WWII, who went on to befriend the deeply grateful locals. As the years have passed, the friendships and partnership began to decline & fade, but a new group of active and engaged individuals is reviving the partnership with the goal of passing it down to future generations. Students at AHS & ACHS regularly exchange handwritten letters as well as communicate on social media (if they so desire). Their enthusiasm for sending and receiving real letters with hand-drawn pictures, school schedules, photos, and doodles is incredible. They also want to send their school news publications, local papers, political flyers, and magazines/advertisements that share our ideas, values, and way of life. They strive to use their best French as they write their letters, which motivates and deepens their classroom learning; however, the true goal is expansion of horizons, understanding people with different perspectives and experiences, and finding many beautiful commonalities with very diverse pen pals - many of whom are immigrants to France from Ukraine, North Africa, the Middle East, or Asia. Additionally, students from both high schools will be traveling to Orléans spring of 2026 to spend an afternoon at their high school. We look forward to experiencing public school in their system and would like to have some relevant Kansas-themed historical and cultural gifts to offer on this visit.