Arielle Stern

Class of 2025
Majors in English and French & Francophone Studies

I'm double majoring in English and French and hoping to pursue a PhD after graduating. I love literature as well as teaching and spent my summer teaching 7th grade English Literature and French Language to Durham Public School (DPS) students. During the year, I mentor and tutor DPS middle and high schoolers through the organization Student U. Additionally, I’m an editor for The Archive, Duke’s literary journal. I’ve also worked as an Au Pair in France and have gotten to represent Duke in the selection of the U.S. Choix Goncourt, the American edition of the premier French literary prize.

Favorite Class: One of my favorite classes at Duke was French 428: Reading French Literature for the Choix Goncourt with Professor Anne-Gaëlle Saliot. I discovered my love for the contemporary French literary style and found such richness in our class discussions and close reads. At the end of the course, another student from the class and I were sent to the French Embassy in New York to advocate for the novel our class deemed most deserving of the U.S. Goncourt prize (the American edition of the premier French literary Prize). After careful discussion and debate (in French!) with graduates and undergraduates from 7 other universities, we selected the winning novel and announced our choice to the public in a final ceremony.