Learning Across Borders: How Language and Community Engagement Inform Global Study

A senior at Brown, William French ’26 connects language study, youth activism and community-based research from Providence to Paris

Growing up in South Harlem, just north of Central Park in New York City, Brown University student William French ‘26 discovered an early passion for youth activism. Now in his senior year at Brown, French has spent the last three years building a pathway that merges his academic interests with his advocacy work through community-engaged research and storytelling.

A double concentrator in International and Public Affairs and French and Francophone Studies, French has worked with the Swearer Center since 2023 to deepen storytelling around students’ community-engaged work and journeys. As Swearer’s Communications Student Worker, he launched a new campaign in Fall 2024 titled “Amplify: Student Voices.” Through the Amplify series, French aims to ensure that his stories capture students’ authentic experiences and their connections to community both on and off campus.

“When I first came to Brown, I knew I wanted to get involved at Swearer because its emphasis on community engagement is very similar to the kind of work I did in high school. It’s been very meaningful to interview other Brown students and share stories about the inspiring ways they have gotten involved to support the community in Providence, in Rhode Island and around the world.”

Reflecting on what first drew him to activist work and storytelling, French describes his high school experience attending West End Secondary School in New York City, where he launched a speaker series to engage students in community work and joined the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Teen Activist Project (TAP), where he became a student organizer.

“At TAP, I was part of a group of youth activists from all around New York City, from all the boroughs, who would share their school experiences and issues they face in school and their communities. We were trained to advocate for student rights and the civil rights of people in our communities.”

As a student organizer, French conducted workshops about supporting unhoused students, LGBTQ+ students, mental health awareness, and restorative justice in schools. He also testified about educational inequity at a public hearing hosted by the NYC Interagency Coordinating Council on Youth.

Building on his work as a youth activist, French developed an interest in global humanitarian issues, the Francophone world and a passion for studying languages including French and Arabic. He has leveraged Brown’s open curriculum to marry his academic interests and advocacy work.

“What I love about International and Public Affairs (IAPA) at Brown is how interdisciplinary the concentration is and how directly it connects to community engagement. Many of the topics in my classes are humanitarian, focusing on the safety and security of populations around the world. My concentration in French and Francophone Studies has also given me the ability to better understand the Francophone world and global contexts. There’s a real connection between what I’m learning in my IAPA and French courses and the conversations we have at the Swearer Center about making meaningful change.”

“ There’s a real connection between what I’m learning in my IAPA and French courses and the conversations we have at the Swearer Center about making meaningful change. ”

French’s academic interests converged powerfully in his Community-Based Learning and Research (CBLR) course, FREN1410T: The Experience of Refugees: Displacements, Migrations, taught by Professor Virginia Krause. Through the course, French collaborated directly with Women’s Refugee Care (WRC), a local nonprofit that supports newly arrived refugee families in South Providence, applying his French language skills to translate essential documents, support clients seeking employment, and assist co-founder and executive director Aline Binyungu with administrative tasks including preparing a speech for International Women’s Day.

Describing his work with WRC, French emphasizes how meaningful it was to apply his French language skills from class directly to supporting newly arrived refugees. “My experience with the clients and staff at Women’s Refugee Care has been amazing. These women are from around the world—including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti—and their resilience is amazing.”

“In class, you read important texts by Edward Saïd and Hannah Arendt about the trauma of displacement,” French shares, “but working directly with people who have lived through it adds a whole new dimension. You’re not just reading—you’re speaking with someone who has experienced it, which is incredibly impactful.”

As part of his International and Public Affairs coursework, IAPA 1502: What Works: Evaluating the Impact of Social Programs, French also worked on an evaluation project with Camp RYSE (Refugee Youth Solidarity through Education), a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting refugee youth through summer programs. Collaborating directly with RYSE’s executive director, Sonny Ryan, French and his team of peers proposed surveys and evaluation strategies to measure program effectiveness, literacy improvement and overall feelings of belonging.

For his Spring 2025 semester, French continued his studies through the Brown in Paris program, where he took courses in political science, literature and cinema at Université Paris 8. He also volunteered at Refugee Food, a Paris-based nonprofit offering culinary job training to refugees, which gave him insight into refugee integration from a French perspective.

Upon returning to Brown, French began his senior year as the Community-Based Learning and Research Fellow for The Experience of Refugees: Displacements, Migrations, where he assisted Professor Krause and worked as a liaison between Brown and WRC. The course culminated with a day of welcome, bringing WRC’s women’s group to campus for a university tour and a reception at the French and Francophone Department.

In his final semester at Brown, French continues his work as a Swearer Center storyteller through Amplify: Student Voices.

“Being part of the Swearer Center has been such a big part of my experience at Brown, “ French shared. “I’ve learned so much from the Swearer team, and it’s been inspiring to see the ways Brown students engage with the community and how that work is such an important part of our education.”