Christine Lagarde’s former life as a teenager in Washington

The IMF chief studied at Bethesda’s Holton-Arms School in her teens, interning for a Maine congressman and making a long-lasting connection with her host family.

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Christine Lagarde, newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, arrives for her first day of work at IMF headquarters in Washington. Lagarde replaces Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the head of the IMF and is the first woman to head the organization.

Win McNamee / Getty Images

Back in 1974, Laura Poisson, pictured looking through an old yearbook, was the host sister and high school classmate of Christine Lagarde, now the newly appointed IMF managing director. Even though Lagarde went on to become one of the most powerful women in politics, she never forgot her host family from Bethesda and has stayed in touch with them.

Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post

Foreign exchange student Christine Lallouette (now Lagarde) in the Holton-Arms yearbook.

Holton-Arms School

From left, Laura Poisson, Christine Lagarde and Elizabeth Ruhland, reunited at Holton-Arms in October 2007. Poisson was a Holton-Arms senior during Lagarde’s year in Washington, and Ruhland was a sophomore.

Family photo

At the beginning of her senior year in 1973, Page 4 of the Scribbler, the Holton-Arms student newspaper, carried the big news: ”Holton Welcomes Christine Lallouette.” In a brief interview, the French newcomer expressed surprise that American women were not all “really fat and awful” and instead found them weight-conscious to "an obsession."

Holton-Arms School

French President Nicolas Sarkozy with the female members of his newly named government, May 18, 2007. From left, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Higher Education and Research Minister Valerie Pecresse, Sarkozy, Housing Minister Christine Boutin, Agriculture Minister Christine Lagarde and Justice Minister Rachida Dati. Even as she climbed corporate and political hierarchies, Lagarde never stopped relying on her Washington host family.

Benoit Tessier / Reuters

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, center, speaks with Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, left, and Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, during the European Summit in Brussels, March 20, 2009. "Whenever I've had to make a tough decision, I always got back to [Bill Atkins] and asked, 'What is your view?'" Lagarde recalled.

Jock Fistick / Bloomberg News

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talks with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde during the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, in October 2010.

Ahn Young-joon / AFP/Getty Images

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde listens to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble during a euro-zone finance ministers meeting at the European Union Council in Brussels in November 2010. Now the new IMF chief, Lagarde is overseeing financial bailouts of three European countries.

Francois Lenoir / Reuters

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde leaves a news conference in Paris in May. As a teenager studying abroad in Washington in the 1970s, Lagarde was able to use her language skills to gain valuable experience during a congressional internship, responding to partisan mail from a Maine congressman's French-Canadian constituents.

Thibault Camus / AP

Christine Lagarde, as France's finance minister, participates in a session on the fourth day of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2011.

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde attends a news conference in Brasilia in May 2011.

Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Paris in July 2007. the subject so much at Holton-Arms that she wrote “please, no math” in her yearbook testimonial.

Remy de la Mauviniere / AP

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde talks to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi after their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Liu Jin / AP

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