(JYA Paris during '85-'86).
I still live in Morristown, NJ, and am currently a real estate agent working for Burgdorff ERA Realtors in Chatham, NJ. My first job after graduating from Skidmore was as an Interest Rate Swap Administrator for Credit Lyonnais in New York City. Since I left that position, I haven't worked for any company where my French was used regularly, though I still occasionally translate snippets of syndication contracts for a former coworker at CBS. I do happen to have some French clients at the moment. Though they've lived here for years and speak perfect English, part of the rapport we've built up is from the ability to communicate effectively in either language. I jump on any chance I get to use my French.
I've kept in close touch with my host family, the Blanchets, whom I love dearly. I've been back to France to visit many times since graduation. So far they've sent two out of three of their children and one cousin to live with me during summers. The children were very young back then and it's been great to watch them grow up. Last summer I attended the wedding of my French "brother" and will undoubtedly return to France for the christening of the baby he and his wife are currently expecting. My photography instructor from JYA is still a good friend, and is actually coming to visit briefly this coming week. The school he began with us and a few other students in his apartment in the 18th is now the premiere photography school in Paris...Speos, the Paris Photographic Institute. I visited there when I was over last summer, and the facilities are truly impressive.
So, you can see French and my time in France still plays a large part of who I am. I think this idea of adding an alumni section is a great one and hope it's a big success.