- December 15, 2025
Alison Parks, a Flagler Palm Coast High School graduate, is one of two New College of Florida students who will travel to France next year under teaching assistantship grants awarded by the French government.
Parks, an international and area studies/French major, will teach in a primary school in Lille, France. Her second year at New College was spent studying in Paris. During that time she was invited to teach English at a middle school there, and loved it.
“Alison’s thesis project, which unites her interests in French and Chinese culture, was ambitious, truly original and of interest to people in a very broad range of fields,” says her senior thesis adviser, French professor Jocelyn Van Tuyl. “The fact that she kept up with both French and Chinese throughout her years here — completing enough coursework in Chinese that she could easily have added a third area of concentration — is extremely impressive. Alison is going to be a very competitive candidate for whatever career or graduate study she selects, and an additional year of living and working in France will only enhance her skills.”
