CRESTVIEW — Crestview Area Sister City Program members anticipate welcoming two visiting French high school students this summer and three exchange students from the University of Nantes La Roche-sur-Yon campus this fall.
The university students will be the first to study at Northwest Florida State College under a newly signed agreement between the two schools that grew from Crestview's sister city relationship with Noirmoutier-en-l'Île.
Jeremy Ribando, Northwest Florida State College Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts department chair, and his wife, Ashley, briefed program members on Saturday during their spring "pique-nique" in Twin Hills Park.
Ribando also discussed his show choirs' May 2015 performances in Noirmoutier. The students, most of whom will venture out of the United States for the first time, will also visit Paris and London, he said.
Crestview's Sister City group will visit Noirmoutier at the same time, providing a hometown component to audiences welcoming the Soundsations, Madrigals and Belle Voci to the island off France's west coast.
The program's expanding educational component will include a visit by 23 Noirmoutrin teenage students in October 2015, Crestview High French teacher Chris Lanoue said.
"The program has grown in the last few years, with more members joining us," longtime member Joe Coffield said. "I like the idea of the kids coming, especially the high school kids.
"It might be better if the college kids stayed with hosts down in the Niceville area, though. But I'm always thinking on the practical, logistical side."
The 2015 exchanges mark the 20th anniversary of the cultural, educational citizen diplomacy program formed in 1995 through Sister Cities International. Membership is open to any Crestview area resident.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at brianh@crestviewbulletin.com, follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NWF State to welcome first French exchange students this fall