Au revoir Dunedin, Bonjour Paris!
By Elaine Kelly | Posted: Thursday May 22, 2025
2021 Dux off to study at the Sorbonne Nouvelle.
The recent French Immersion Day allowed me to touch base with colleagues at the University of Otago. One of these colleagues is Fréderic Dichtel, a native speaker of French now settled in New Zealand, who put a lot of work into supporting the Year 13 cohort in French in 2021, tutoring them and working with them on past papers and scholarship preparation.
One boy lucky enough to work with Fréderic was Luke Geddes, who would, later that year, quite deservedly become the Dux of Otago Boys’ High School. Luke displayed an absolute passion for French when I first met him upon arriving at the school in 2018. A standout in the Year 10 class, it was clear that Luke was destined to do something big in Languages!
Fast forward to 2025, and Luke is in his final year at Otago University. Having already completed a BSc in Biochemistry, and not one to shy away from a challenge, he is now in his last year of a BA in French. Luke has been lucky enough to have been accepted on an exchange to the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris to study French and International Relations. Luke is extremely grateful to Barbara Stone, a lecturer at Otago, for helping organise this exchange. Once there, he will be completely immersed in the language, taking all of his classes in French surrounded by local students. The very best way to learn any language.
When I spoke to him, Luke said: “Foreign languages are really opening up my world and complementing my strong interest in the sciences nicely. I hope they'll continue to make me a well-rounded individual.” Since France is a country that invests heavily in science and technology, there is really no telling where this double degree could take Luke!
It just goes to show that if you stick with it, Languages can take you anywhere. I hope to meet up with Luke when I accompany the current Year 10 and 11 students on our inaugural French Tour to Paris and Lyon in January 2026. How inspirational it will be for our younger learners of French to sip a limonade in a Parisian cafe with an older OBHS brother who will already be living the dream in Paris!
