Schoolboy secures work placement at Elysée Palace

Matthieu Picarda, a 14-year-old collège student at the Saint-Louis school in Auray (Morbihan, Brittany) will do his work experience placement at the palace, after having been inspired by watching Macron on television, according to French news source FranceInfo.

Work experience placements of at least one week are a requirement for students in 3e (equivalent to the UK’s Year 10) at many schools across France.

Picarda wrote his letter asking for the Elysée placement last June, after having watched the then-newly-elected President take part in a television debate.

Inspired, he decided to write directly to the leader, and, despite not knowing if he would get a reply at all, quickly received an official and positive response.

“My mum came to find me one evening,” Picarda told local newspaper Ouest-France. “She was literally jumping around in the car because she had just opened the letter that said I had been accepted on the placement. Passers-by in the street thought we were mad, we were shouting and jumping up and down so much.

“I can’t wait, but I’m also quite nervous,” he said. “I still can’t really believe it.”