French

David Dahveed Benson is the French Voyageur dean (first half). David has been on staff for 24 years and was a villager at Lac du Bois for seven. He led our high school study abroad program in Cameroon in 2008. He is fluent in French and has studied Hausa, Swahili, Fulfulde, Yemba, Malgassy and Pidgin. 

David graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in French and history. He earned his master's degree in African history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also attained competency in Hausa and Swahili, two sub-Saharan African languages. An avid lover of paddling and wilderness experiences, David has participated in and/or led canoeing and kayaking expeditions in Thailand, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa, Namibia, Cameroon, Madagascar, Canada, and throughout the United States.

Dahveed currently lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and two boys, all of whom are active participants with CLV. He teaches history and political science at an experiential learning-base high school, the Colorado Springs School. In 2010 Dahveed was a grant recipient of The Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program. The TEA Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and facilitated by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). The grant included a 2 week teacher exchange program in Bulgaria, where Dahveed taught classes and led teacher training workshops in the spring of 2011. 

Kathryn Katy Droske  is the dean of Lac du Bois - Hackensack, the French Language Village at the beautiful Camp Holiday site. In her 10 years with the Language Villages, Katy has served in multiple positions at Lac du Bois Hackensack as well as the chez Les Voyageurs. 

Katy earned her B.A. in French, English, and secondary education at the University of Minnesota, Morris and her M.A. in French from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. As an undergraduate she spent a semester abroad with the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership at Universite Paul Valery in Montpellier, France. In the fall of 2011, she received a grant supporting three months of research in Québec, and spent a semester living in Montreal and studying the archives of French-Canadian author Gabrielle Roy. Katy has taught French at Morris Area High School, Willmar Senior High School and the University of Minnesota. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in French with a focus on 20th-century Québécois literature at the University of Minnesota.

François Fouquerel is the dean of French Voyageur (second half). François has been on staff at Concordia Language Villages for 23 years. He is a native of France and grew up in Normandy. He is also the dean of the French Year-Round Programs. François earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn. He has a licence d’anglais from L’université de Toulouse II – le Mirail. He has taught French at Bemidji State University and English at Hibbing Community college. François has taught in an expeditionary learning school for 11 years.

Jennifer Charlotte Speir-Hearn is dean of Lac du Bois-Bemidji (first half), the French Language Village. Charlotte has been on staff at Concordia Language Villages for 25 years and was a French villager for two years. She is fluent in French and has studied Spanish. Charlotte earned her bachelor’s degree in French with a minor in music from Middlebury College, Vt. She completed her master’s degree in teaching French at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has studied at the Université de Caen, France. Charlotte is a French teacher at Warren T. Jackson Elementary in the Atlanta Public Schools.

Katherine Chantal Dutko is the dean at Lac du Bois Bemidji second half of the summer.  After being a villager herself, Chantal has been on staff the past eight summers, as counselor, waterfront manager, leadership staff member, and most recently assistant dean.  Though primarily a staff member at Lac du Bois, she has also worked at French Voyageur and Spanish Bemidji.  

Chantal’s B.A. in French studies, with a minor in linguistics and cognitive science, is from Dartmouth College, where she was a Rassias drill instructor.  She also led five-day hiking and canoeing trips for incoming students as part of the Dartmouth Outing Club.  Following college graduation, she taught English at an elementary school in Montpellier, France.  She worked 2010-11 as an assistant teacher in a French pre-K class at the International School of Brooklyn.  Her travels include several months in India and South America.  She plans to begin graduate studies in the fall of 2012.