On Wednesday, October 12 2022, the Amerikahaus welcomed a teacher exchange delegation for a strategic meeting for their partnership. The delegation was made up of faculty and staff from Seminole Middle High School in Seminole County, Georgia, faculty and staff of FOS BOS Schönbrunn, and a representative of the Georgia Department of Education. Special guests for the meeting included a representative from the Georgia European Office in Munich and a representative for the U.S. Consulate in Munich.

The delegation group visited the Amerikahaus as part of a weeklong teacher exchange between the schools. This was a first step in creating a lasting student exchange program between the U.S. and German school. The delegation visit and program is a special one, because the schools have a large focus on agriculture education, which they will put at the center of all future student exchanges. Currently, this agriculture-focused exchange is a unique way to integrate a global perspective into a subject that often focuses only on local and regional practices. The two schools – FOS BOS Schönbrunn and Seminole Middle High School – were paired together for a virtual exchange in 2021-2022 by the Amerikahaus with the integral help of the Georgia Department of Education. This virtual exchange was part of the initiative “Green Together: Bavaria meets Georgia”, supported by the German American Institute Nuremberg and part of the curricular project “Going Green” from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin and Leuphana University.

The strategic meeting at Amerikahaus began with welcome remarks by Amerikahaus Director Dr. Meike Zwingenberger, who also introduced the broader range of transatlantic work the Amerikahaus does. She then opened the floor to an introduction of the delegation members and special guests, who all spoke to any prior and current experiences they have in the transatlantic context. After that, the meeting about the future of the partnership and concrete plans for a German delegation to reciprocate a visit to Georgia were discussed in plenum, moderated by Dr. Zwingenberger. The U.S. Consulate in Munich and the Georgia European Office introduced their work in the meeting and offered their praise and support for the budding exchange plans.

For the 2022-2023 school year, further plans are in motion to schedule a reciprocal visit to the U.S. for the German teachers to get to know the U.S. school’s system and how it compares to the German one. There are also plans to continue the virtual exchange for student groups that began last year, continued with the technical support of the Amerikahaus. The group will also create drafts of a memorandum of understanding between the schools, plan concrete exchange curricula for the school groups, and begin to seek partners in the agribusiness sector who may be interested in supporting the exchange project.

The delegation’s excitement about a student exchange was palpable. The goal to educate the next generation of farmers and agriculturally-oriented young people as globally-minded leaders. Amerikahaus Munich is thrilled to offer continued support for the initiative and watch the student exchange come to fruition.

Photo: © Amerikahaus München