Alumnus in Paris: Gary Lavenia (2018)

Gary Lavenia graduated Spring 2018 with a BS in French Education and a minor in Linguistics with a TESOL certification. He was awarded the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) for three years (2018-2021) and moved to Paris after graduation. He is currently a Masters student at the Sorbonne, focusing on Linguistics and Translation.

In his spart time, he works for a French family tutoring their children. He also has a position with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s Paris study abroad program, where he teaches and mentors. And he has yet another job with the European study abroad agency ERASMUS organizing educational trips for international students. After he completes his degree at the Sorbonne, Gary will either pursue a PhD at the Sorbonne, find a job with a French company, or open a tourism/study abroad business in Paris.

“ECU prepared me extremely well for what was to come after graduation. Who would have thought that the student in French I back in 2014 learning, “Bonjour, je m’appelle Gary. Je suis américain.” would end up using those sentences, and so many more, on a daily basis? A simple bonjour really does go a long way, and you always knew that it was going to be a good day at ECU when Dr. Papalas, Dr. Rush, Dr. Médevielle, Dr. Fladenmuller, Dr. Murphy, or Professor St Amant walked in the door and said, “bonjour”, or when Dr. Levi-Altstaedter said, “hola”. Je vous dois beaucoup, merci mille fois !”