Wednesday Morning Vamp

In a bit of a hurry this morning so I’ll dash this off quickly and come back later.

For all of you who were crossing your fingers, eyes, er, whatever, for Brooke, who had applied for the AATG German Prize of summer study in Germany, you can stop now.

She won!

{{Cue the Snoopy Dance}}

This prize is sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany every year and winners are selected from 23,000 American students who took the National German Exam administered by the American Association of Teachers of German.  The exam is the first step to winning the prize.  High scorers have to complete an essay section and after passing *that* step have to pass an interview section in German.  Forty-four winners are selected from 65 national chapters each with 2 finalists.

The prize includes a round trip flight to Germany, residence with a host family for 3-4 weeks, attendance at a gymnasium and tours of historical and cultural interest.  Brooke is incredibly honored to win and very happy that the German government is sponsoring this program.  With our current employment situation, she never would have been able to go on the regular German club trip.  It would have been too expensive.  It just goes to show that with a lot of hard work and the help of a lot of people, including her German teachers, guidance counselors, aunts and Grandparents, it is possible to cram enough German into your head to win a prestigious prize like this.

Thanks to all of you for hanging in there with us.