Swiss school basks in John Kerry limelight

[Feanorcurufinwe]

The Institut Montana has changed little since United States Democratic presidential frontrunner John Kerry attended it as a student exactly 50 years ago. The Montana has been inundated with calls from the media over the past few weeks, all wanting to learn more about Kerry’s one-year stay at the school. Kerry’s file - kept in a plain manila folder bearing the number 2587 – contains his school reports and reveals that he was top of the class in most subjects. “(His reports) look very impressive - even by our high standards,” says Daniel Fridez, director of the Montana. “Here is a mid-term report written by the dean which says he was the best student of the elementary school,” he told swissinfo.

Kerry’s file now contains a selection of newspaper clippings which have appeared over the past few weeks about the school and its most famous student. “This is the most sought-after document from the past 50 years,” says Fridez, pointing to a copy of the school newspaper from December 1954. Inside, an 11-year-old Kerry describes a trip to Zurich with the school’s other American students to celebrate Thanksgiving.

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But more important than the setting, argues Fridez, are the “traditional values” the school still teaches, which include “being open to the world, respecting others, and learning how to take responsibility for one’s self”. He says it is these qualities which prepare Montana’s students for positions of leadership and authority.

“The school has given me an international perspective,” agrees 18-year-old American student Fred Schmidt, after attending a history lesson with teenagers from about a dozen nations. “You have people from all over the world here. There are students from different cultures with different beliefs,” he continues. “You have to find a way to retain your individuality, but also to get along with everyone else and understand where they come from. I think that’s a great stepping stone if you want to become a high-ranking official like John Kerry.”

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=4723975