Flag presentation and handover ceremony X2024

With the start of their academic career and their return to the École polytechnique campus, the Polytechnique engineering students in the class of X2024 have been entrusted with the School's flag, which they will guard for a year and carry in the Bastille day parade on the Champs-Elysées.

Presided over by Army General Thierry Burkhard, Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, this handover ceremony, which symbolically links the new graduating class to its predecessors for more than two centuries, relates to the military dimension of École Polytechnique, overseen by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. It illustrates the strong bond that unites the Polytechnique community around the flag and the motto inscribed in its flag’s folds: “Pour la Patrie, les Sciences et la Gloire” (“For the Nation, for Sciences and for Glory”).

Held in the presence of parents and relatives of the students of the class 2024 Cycle ingénieur polytechnicien program, it was also an opportunity to present the academic path of the first and subsequent academic years and for dicussions with the faculty.

“The students returned to campus on April 8 after several months in the armed forces or civilian institutions. Their experiences were powerful, extremely diverse, sometimes demanding, often transformative. They had to take on concrete responsibilities, in the service of collective missions, which sometimes forced them to step out of their comfort zone, and certainly out of their role as students, to assume a position of operational responsibility”, Laura Chaubard, president of École Polytechnique, said in her introductory speech.

“For a few weeks now, they are back to a more academic student life. However, they haven't come back quite the same (...), these months spent off-campus have made them grow, and I hope they retain the openness and maturity they acquired during this training period”, she added.

After a few days of integration, the French officer cadets left for three weeks of initial military training camp of La Courtine in the southwestern part of France, followed by a six-month period of human and military training, either within the Armed Forces or in a civilian organization.

Depending on their level of French, their fellow international students of the Cycle ingénieur polytechnicien program either receive further training in French, or complete their period of human training in a civilian organization. 

The class of X2024 comprises 544 students, including 85 young women, from all over France, as well as 113 international students representing twenty-four nationalities. They rub shoulders on campus with more than 7,000 other students of over a hundred nationalities, enrolled in École Polytechnique 's Bachelor's, Master's and PhD programs, as well as in the engineering cycles of the other Schools of the Institut polytechnique de Paris, of which École Polytechnique is a founding member: Telecom Paris, ENSTA, ENSAE, Télécom SudParis and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Open to the world, demanding and deeply caring

“This diversity is a tremendous source of richness, providing an opening onto the world that will help them find their place and their way. The internationalization of our School is the result of a deliberate policy, and reflects our desire to disseminate knowledge and extend our influence beyond our borders,” emphasized Laura Chaubard. 

“Over the next two years on campus, the students of the 2024 class will acquire the high-level scientific knowledge and methods that will mark their profile as engineers and polytechnicians, and they will build their ability to apprehend the world and the transitions it is going through,” declared the Managing Director.

“These years will also be, perhaps above all, years of human development. They will forge solid friendships here, some of which will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and enjoy unique collective experiences that will continue to help them grow and open up to others,” she continued. 

“Surrounded by first-rate teachers, dedicated supervisors and staff, they will evolve in a demanding, yet deeply caring environment,” noted the president of École Polytechnique.

Returning to the military dimension of the School, Laura Chaubard reminded us that “this environment is not intended to turn all students into officers of the armed forces, and the vast majority are not destined to become career soldiers”. 

“Nevertheless, X's military roots remain an essential vehicle for teaching that individual excellence is only worthwhile if it is part of a collective project, that greatness cannot exist without humility and high standards, and that nothing is worth achieving if it does not serve a cause greater and more beautiful than one's own destiny”, she added.

“The school's dual scientific and humanistic identity, both pursued to the highest standards, sets it apart from the rest, and contributes to the training of top-level leaders in all sectors. Every Polytechnicien takes it with him or her, whatever their background and career choices, whether in the public sphere or in business, in France or anywhere else in the world”, stressed Laura Chaubard. 

At the end of the ceremony, General Burkhard presented several citations and awards. In particular, he awarded the insignia of Officer of the National Order of Merit to Laura Chaubard. General Armament Ingeneiur, Laura Chaubard had been a Knight of the National Order of Merit since April 26, 2017. She is Knight of the Legion of Honor since July 7, 2021.