Meaghan Britain, a 2011 Strategic Communications graduate, is the recipient of a U.S. State Department scholarship to study, work and live in Germany for a year.
The scholarship, Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, is awarded to only 70 Americans each year. Britain was one of nearly 600 applicants for the program that promotes business and personal relationships between Germany and the United States. Following a rigorous application process, Britain learned in March that she received the scholarship.
“I could hardly believe it,” Britain said. “I had been thinking about this program non-stop since I applied in November, and when I received the letter that said ‘Congratulations!’ the relief was enormous.”
Britain will arrive in Germany Aug. 1. As part of the program, she will have two months of intensive German training in Bremen, a city in the northwest of Germany near the North Sea. At the end of language training, Britain will move to her permanent placement where she will live with a host family and study at a German university for one semester. Upon completion of the semester, Britain will hold an internship in the communications field with a German company for the remainder of the year.
“The next year is certainly going to hold some pretty big challenges,” Britain said. “I still have a lot to learn about the German language, and getting used to the German schooling and work place will be an adjustment. But all the endless chances for new adventures are what make this program so exciting.”
Britain learned of the program last fall when German professor Scott Windham, chair of Elon’s Foreign Languages Department, emailed his German 221 class about the program.
“At first I read the email and mentally filed it away for another day,” Britain said. “Then in November the ‘I need a job after graduation’ bug filled my ear and I remembered Dr. Windham’s email. When I read through the description, I knew immediately that it was what I wanted to do after graduation.”
Congress-Bundestag is a reciprocal program founded in 1983 in celebration of the first German immigration to the United States. It is funded as a partnership between the U.S. Congress and German Bundestag (Parliament).