Mayor Reinhard Limbach welcomes exchange students in the old townhall.
“Minsk?”
You can see the question marks on the faces of the 25 American students—most had not heard of the Belarusian capital before.
“What do you love about your work particularly?” Alexandria Bassett asked of the recently elected mayor, Reinhard Limbach. “Things like today,” he answered and explained that he had previously had the pleasure to greet six students from Minsk in a similar appointment. With a short speech, Limbach had first greeted the students in the great hall of the old town hall, and afterwards, there was an opportunity for the students to ask questions. The teenagers are taking part in the CBYX program, which was established by the Congress of the United States and the German Bundestag in 1983 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the beginning of German immigration to the US, and has taken place every year since. All of the participants have graduated from high schools or vocational schools in the United States. They are all qualified for an internship in a field in which they want to gain further experience. The candidates had to undergo a rigorous selection process and are full of expectations. “I’ve always had fun learning languages. I started learning Spanish in school, and later started with German,” says 18-year old Alexandria Bassett, explaining her motivation. All participants are between 17 and 19 years old and are now partaking in an intensive, seven-week language and orientation seminar, which is organized by the Academy for International Education. During this time, they are staying with host families in Bonn.
At the end of this program, the students will visit a German school for up to four months and then will complete an internship with a company. Each of the participants is taken under the wing of a member of German parliament, for example, Ulrich Kelber in Bonn.
The Academy for International Education is always looking for openminded families in Bonn and the surrounding area to take in American students. Interested families can contact the housing coordinator Hilde Koch.
Translated from a "General Anzeiger" newspaper article published in Bonn on July 24th 2014.
