AGS Celebrates Its Graduating Students in the French Senate

Like every year for the past dozen years, AGS held its end-of-year festivities in the French Senate, under the sponsorship of a French Senator. This year, Jean-Léonce Dupont, Senator of Calvados, was AGS's official host. Graduating students and their families, along with fellow students, alumni, faculty, and guests from the AGS international community gathered around a sumptuous dinner served in the Salon Napoléon of the Senate to celebrate the end of the academic year, and congratulate the graduating students.

"Celebrating our American-style education with our community of students and faculty from around the world in this landmark of French political institutions is a nice symbol of AGS’s international character," says Dr. Eileen Servidio, President of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at AGS. "Just tonight, for instance, we have guests from Canada, the United States, India, France, Egypt, Scotland, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Italy, Russia, Ghana, Israel, and Mauritius."

In her speech, Dr. Eileen Servidio recognized each of the graduating students individually for their achievements in the degree programs at AGS - the M.A. in International Relations and Diplomacy, or the International MBA, both offered in Paris in partnership with Arcadia University in the United States. Other students were recognized for their work in one of AGS's professional development tracks. "Congratulations. You have successfully completed a program that is demanding, and rewarding. You can be proud of your accomplishments. We are." As some of the graduating students had already left Paris to take on a career opportunity in another country, she added, "This is what happens when you have students from all over the world - they go back to all over the world."

Seizing the conviviality of the moment, Professors Joav Toker and Douglas Yates each ad-libbed a speech dedicated to the graduating students. Yates emphasized how higher education is more than job training, but an enrichment of the whole existence of the individual. "Education is not only about what you do, it is about who you are," said Yates. Professor Toker added that education changes the individual in an almost subversive way, shifting perspective and opening up new possibilities.

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