2009 France Leaders: Karen Phillips and Noah SabichKAREN PHILLIPS: Saint Lawrence University, B.A., cum laude, French. Karen caught the travel bug between high school and college while spending a year as an AFS exchange student in Switzerland. At Saint Lawrence, Karen studied abroad in France and Senegal, focusing her studies on francophone literature and culture. During college she worked as a writing mentor, teaching assistant, and French tutor, ran track, and was an active member of the Laurentian Singers and the Swinging Saints, a student run swing dancing club. Karen has traveled extensively in Eastern and Western Europe, the United States, West Africa and Australia. Karen currently works full time at the Putney office in Vermont as an Associate Director coordinating programs in France, Switzerland, Italy, Senegal, and Australia. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, rock climbing, and playing yoga ball soccer. This will be Karen’s third year with Putney. She has led this Language Learning program in France and a Community Service program in Senegal. Karen is fluent in French.
NOAH SABICH: Bates College, B.A. in French and History. Middlebury College School in France, M.A. University of Connecticut, M.A., Ph.D. (ABD). Noah has lived, studied, and traveled extensively in France and throughout Europe. He has studied at the University of Poitiers and the Sorbonne. Drawn by literature and culture, he opted for the study of post-colonialism. As part of his Ph.D. dissertation, he intends to show how indigenous Tahitians navigate their often opposing, combative identities (French/Tahitian) in a colonial island society. Noah has taught English to French high school students in Paris, and French to American university students. When not working or traveling, Noah enjoys surfing, soccer, the Basque country, Polynesian literature, biking, and swimming. Noah lives in Paris, where he works as the Assistant Director for the University of Connecticut study abroad program. This will be his third summer with Putney. He has taught French, Creative Writing, and French Cuisine on Putney Student Travel’s Excel program in France. Noah is fluent in French and Latin and proficient in German and Spanish.
