At first glance, the house, set upon a hill with a steep, winding driveway to keep it away from the highway appears to be no different than any other.However, several international flags in the yard and a “Propriete Privee” sign posted on the mailbox make the Starkville house seem a little out of place.
The house, with large pine trees and a spacious yard, is tucked away off Hwy. 182 East, right outside the MSU campus. It is known as the Sheely House, as it once belonged to MSU chemistry professor Clyde Q. Sheely. Director of housing and residence life Ann Bailey said the university now owns the house.
In past years, the Sheely House has been used for staff and faculty housing. “It has primarily been a home that the university has used for temporary housing when they needed it,” Bailey said.
This year, the Sheely House underwent a transformation.
It became the Nanette Workman French House, a residence hall with one of several campus learning communities.
It is the first language-oriented learning community at MSU, focusing on the French language and culture.
Co-director of the house and French professor Bob Raymond said this particular program is the first one of its kind in Mississippi.
While other universities have similar language-oriented residence halls and houses, Bailey said this is the first time for MSU to establish such a program.
“It’s really a national trend now in housing,” Bailey said. “Students come now looking for experiences.”
Unlike the other MSU learning communities, the French House is the only one found off campus.
“They can live in the middle of it [a learning community] and study simultaneously,” Bailey said.
Raymond said the house enables students who were not able to study abroad to be immersed in another language and culture.
Six students reside in the French House: two American females, one American male, two Belgium males and one French male, who is also the resident assistant.
Philippe Frayssinoux, a senior business major, plays on the MSU tennis team and serves as the French House’s resident assistant.
Laurent Limbort, a general business major, and Gilles Detienne, are exchange students from Belgium.
Junior aerospace engineering and physics double-major Jonathan Sappington is the lone American male in the French House.
The two females in the house are Demetrice Dixon, junior anthropology major with a French minor, and freshman business major Ashley Carter.
The house is decorated with French artwork, including posters from French plays and French landscape scenes.
French literature lies on several of the coffee tables and bookshelves, and a modern French magazine for young adults lies open on one of the living room chairs.
The dining room table is halfway covered in papers, some mail, but mostly Frayssinoux’s homework.
Frayssinoux takes a break from his studies to call to Limbort and Detienne in French. After introducing themselves, they sit down to talk about the new house.
“We like it,” Frayssinoux begins. “It’s a change from the dorms and speaking English all the time. We don’t usually speak French when there’s just Americans around because it’s rude.”
Frayssinoux said he and the Belgium students have enjoyed being able to speak their native language at the house.
Limbort, who has been in school in Belgium, said the house gives him and the others adequate space.
“In Belgium, we had small apartments, four bedrooms with a common room. Because it’s a house, it’s really big and there’s room for everything,” Limbort said.
Limbort and Detienne share a room and Dixon and Carter share another room.
Frayssinoux and Sappington have their own rooms, but there is room for one more student in the house.
Any student with an MSU housing contract can move from their residence hall into the French House since it is a university residence hall, Raymond said.
Next semester, there will be two additional openings in the French House because the Belgium students will return home.
Both Frayssinoux and Limbort said the house has a good mixture of people and they enjoy having both guys and girls in the house.
“The girls are both Americans,” Frayssinoux said. “They understand a little French and are trying to talk, which is the purpose of the house.”
Limbort said the house has a television station that airs news from France, Belgium and Canada in French as well as French radio.
He said the residents will eventually receive French newspapers, one of several donations to the house.
Bailey said the students living in the French house are interested in surrounding themselves with not just the French language but the culture and history as well.
“They are trying to experience French culture to the fullest,” she said, “They can not only appreciate the life and culture of Mississippi State and America, they can also appreciate the French culture.”
Frayssinoux said the goal for the house is to try to speak French at all times.
“We [the native French-speakers] speak French together and when we’re with the Americans, we speak a little bit of French with them,” he said. “It’s hard because we’re fast. They want to improve and we’re trying to help them.”
The French House is named for Nanette Workman, a singer, model and actress who grew up in Jackson, Miss.
Raymond said the house was named for Workman because she is a Mississippian who has huge success in the French world.
At age 18, Workman moved to New York and began a career on Broadway.
She later moved to Canada where she recorded her first French single, which stayed at number one on the charts for 15 weeks.
Workman lived in Quebec for two years and hosted her own TV show.
She left for England where she sang and recorded with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
After leaving England for France, Workman became the opening act for Johnny Hallyday and recorded an English album with him.
She recorded several French albums after moving back to Quebec and then went back to France to star in two operas.
She has acted in eight films and appeared in commercials and television shows.
In 2000, Workman was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in Jackson.
Raymond said Workman was present for the French House’s open house Sunday.