Vive La France…In Manchester
Maybe it was the lilt of the language, her family’s heritage, the wonderful stories her mom brought back as souvenirs from her trips to France, or all those Audrey Hepburn movies she watched as a kid. Whatever it was that made UNH Manchester student Victoria DiPippo fall in love with all things French, it wasn't a passing fancy.
In fact, in recent years it's manifested as a four-month trip to France to study abroad, an internship with the Franco American Centre in Manchester and the seeds of a career.
"I love the language, the language is beautiful," she said. "I've always loved Paris and France. It was always there, always surrounding me."
DiPippo, a humanities major with a concentration in French Language, History and Culture, started studying the language early on. Wanting to better her chances at fluency, she sought out a study abroad opportunity.
"It was amazing. Marisa Forti, the study abroad counselor at UNH Manchester-- I bragged about her to all the other study abroad people all the time, she was amazing," DiPippo, 22, said. "She cares so much about every student who studies abroad. You feel like you're the only one that she's taking care of because she's there so much for you."
The experience gave DiPippo perspective, and opened her eyes to a world outside of her little place in the world in Sandown, NH. It also gave her a deeper sense of confidence.
"It was amazing. It's hard to describe. I have a lot of pictures of Paris up in my room now and I look at them now and think, ‘I was there. I did that,’" she said. "You realize you're not alone in the world. I think sometimes it's hard for me to imagine that there's a whole world
out there until I go out and see it."
While she was gone, John Tousignant, the executive director of the Franco-American Centre in Manchester was speaking with his friend Barbara Wirth, UNH Manchester Internship Coordinator. He was telling her she needed to find him an intern, a tall order since there isn't a French program at UNH Manchester. Or, it would have been for a less savvy internship coordinator.
"Barbara told him, 'I have the perfect person for you but she's studying abroad in Paris France right now,'" DiPippo said. "It was really cool because Barbara Wirth knew me and knew I was studying abroad. How many internship coordinators just randomly know that a student is studying abroad? The small community thing is so awesome here at UNH Manchester."
DiPippo started her internship at the Centre this spring. The Franco American Centre, is a nonprofit organization that connects people with French heritage--which includes Haitian, Asian, Canadian, French Canadian and French people-- as well as promotes French language and culture throughout the state.
As part of her job at the center, DiPippo is coordinated a wide variety of activities that promote French language and culture. Among these, added Tousignant, was putting together a member's only reception which followed the production of Timber, a visiting French-Canadian circus in the style of Cirque du Soleil. She also helped put together a proclamation with the governor's office recognizing March as French month in New Hampshire and coordinates an art exhibit of artists of French speaking heritage at City Hall in Manchester.
"Of course we're able to more with an intern involved than without," Tousignant said. "An intern brings in a fresh set of eyes; an intern typically brings in a good deal of enthusiasm and energy and kind of stimulates us as a nonprofit to look beyond what we always do to opportunities to expand our offerings.”
"She's been fantastic. She has the enthusiasm and her background in the humanities and her background in studying in France just added to the tools she had available to do the job."
Possibly one of the best parts of her job, DiPippo says is traveling to schools to talk about her study abroad experience.
"Meeting a lot of students that were super excited about the French culture got me very excited," she said.
"I realized how happy I am when I'm speaking the French language and speaking about the culture," she said. "I can explain to them that there's this whole other world, whole other culture out there."
